Mouthpiece
This is my mouth
These are my teeth
This is my tongue
Gums
Lips
Saliva
Tape it shut
Fill it up
Dry it out
Whatever you do
Keep it quiet
So you can continue to tell my story
So you can continue
To speak for me
So you can continue
To be the voice for the voiceless
Because like a cow or a dog
I, of course, have no voice
Trafficked
Abused
Coerced
These are the words you love
You feminist abolitionists who,
Even when I tell you why
Even when my colleagues and I
We use our voice
You go on spreading your misinformed lies
Tell me that
I only feel the way I do
Is because I am damaged
Brainwashed and broken
You can’t see
How is what is not right for you
Might be perfect for me.
My clients aren’t the danger
The men I meet in hotel rooms and I
Are mutual healers
Accepting each others fetishes and existence
The danger is you
Ever present mouthpiece
No ears, just crocodile tears
Spreading the stigma
That women like me
possess no sense of self or self respect.
We’re all addicted, diseased, have early deaths
Instead of listening
to the diverse reality of us
Our mixed backgrounds and experiences
Mouthpiece with no ears
Puckered lips
You are just a big asshole, really
Trying to control me
And legislate my sexuality away
What about you?
How much do you get paid?
Don’t you feel degraded by your job?
How can you be a feminist and do what you do?
Don’t you worry about finding someone to love you?
How does it feel,
this interrogation by a stranger?
And why should it matter what I answer?
You have already formed your opinion about ‚my kind of woman‘
Maybe instead of being my mouthpiece
You should focus on making a space
For me to use
my mouth.
-Hannah Morgenstern