Women Do Not Turn Into Ghosts
When Motherhood Becomes War
The women will become ghosts if we take their children and turn them into soldiers.
Is how they officially phrased it.
The women will become ghosts, they said.
Some greased their faces
Some wore hoodies and some wore veils
Their earrings littered the streets
All were covered in black lace.
The women did not become ghosts when their children were stolen and turned into soldiers.
The women rose up.
They stormed buildings and flipped cars.
They demanded blood
A life for a life
You took my daughter
They screamed
You took my son
You took our children.
Give them back.
They detonated bombs and threw grenades.
The women did not turn into ghosts.
They wielded machetes
They swung bats
They carried knives
They made their bodies hard.
There would be no peace, this was personal.
Dead and alive.
Return our children.
We are not ghosts.
We bury our own.
Curses fell from their lips
May your empires fall
Your waterways run dry
May your fields burn.
May you get no rest.
Women do not turn into ghosts when you steal their children.
They turn into mothers, raging rivers, hurricanes and earthquakes.
They devastate you and force you into submission.
Women never forget the face and carriage of the thief who stole their children.
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This is such a powerful collection of words and an equally powerful collection of thoughts. Thank you, Teresa.