God is

“She’s a revolution against revlon /

a tyrant with a tampon”

- Deja Taylor,  “Ode to a Female Emcee”

for Deja K Taylor – the revolution you are /

for FM Supreme/ for No Name / Kiara /

for Essie / Lakia / Dominique / Kush / Aimee /

for Jamila / Jean Deaux / Nova / Tabitha/ Shea

for the goddesses / god is this fire you breathe

on the mic / like a lioness / obviously

lyin’s no option for you / brutal truth-speakers / rebels /

breakin down myths from the battleground of your sex /

no time for bull / gotta educate these masculine cultures/

rhymes full of misogyny and ass-lookin vultures /

gratitude to women with attitude / & glory

to all those who contended unmentioned in his story

resisting the Man through whatever methods they had to keep

enacting sex battles open and clandestine /

what they can’t stand to see: females fierce to the core /

this is my ode to you / never stop roarin

this for Bjork / Tune-Yards / Ani Difranco /

for Jill Scott / Erykah Badu / Joni Mitchell /

who proudly howl individual voices /

women loudly living out countercultural choices /

unafraid to sound weird even though difference is feared

in women / for Joanna Newsom, who knew some about that/

as did Janis / Joan Baez / Yoko / Josephine foster /

Kimya Dawson / Queen Latifah / Josephine Baker /

this for Meg / K Serra / Lauryn Hill / Regina Spektor /

Billie holiday, standin up for her people like Ester /

for the outspoken poets: Alixa & Naima,

Climbing PoeTree / raising consciousness / teaching people to dream again /

for Iyeoka, medicine woman on the mic /

Sunni Patterson / Caroline Harvey / Jeanann Verlee and the like /

Marty / Cristiana / Cydney / Susie / Patricia Smith /

Simone / April / Jessica Care Moore / Andrea Gibson /

for Aracelis Girmay’s impeccable eyes for the real /

for Fiona / mic beast singing precisely how you feel /

for the teachers: Toni Lightfoot, Santana, Ms Porri,

Diana, Mariah, Missy Hughes, you, your stories

are the silent and righteous fight / for Molly Meacham

your students need people like you who can reach em

this for women poets of old / back to Rabia /

Rumi’s main influence / though biographies rob ya /

for Phillis Wheatley / leader of self-emancipation /

learned to read to free herself for black liberation /

this for Dickinson / Angelou / Atwood / Gwendolyn /

Julia Álvarez / Lucille Clifton /

Nikki Finney/ Nikki Giovanni /

Anna Akhmatova’s invaluable testimony /

Marianne Moore / Claribel Alegría /

Julia de Burgos / Santa Teresa de Avila /

a mystical nun in the Spanish inquisition /

who strategically played her radical position /

for the revolutionaries / for Vandana Shiva /

a one-woman army fighting monsanto’s evil /

for bell hooks / calling prejudice what it is /

teaching teachers to respect what their learners live /

for Rosa, who didn’t just one day sit like the story goes,

but was part of an organized protest of jim crow /

for Harriet / and heroines who never knew fame /

for Sojourner Truth, who lived and died by her name /

for Aung San Suu Kyi / the ghandi of burma /

15 years house-arrested / learned to fight guns with dharma /

this for Jane Addams and Luisa Capetillo

for our own Anna West / para Ana Castillo /

for Afeni Shakur / Rachel Maddow / Annie Leonard /

this for Angela Davis / Barbara Marx Hubbard /

and for all unsung woman-heroes of history /

spanning from Mary Magdalene to Rita Marley /

for Judith / Yael / Miriam / Joan of arc

for Lillith, the first feminist / who lives in the heart

of all those who struggle for gender equality

with strength, love, patience, and all other qualities

of the Divine Feminine / humans find heaven in

the balance between Yin and Yang / but the second one’s

been dominating since man’s been subjugating

women and nature / punching Mother Earth bloody /

ultimately Goddess and God are the same,

so we gotta embrace both within our own frame /

males, taste the sweet honey in the rock /

females, keep fighting for freedom / don’t stop /

lastly i gotta shout out to my family’s

goddesses: Grandmas, Mom, Sarah & Emily /

Lisa, Dev, Yoli, Elisita, Tia Tedi /

Sor Elisa / Leah / Julie, Mari & Melly /

y todas mis primas, amores, amigas,

diosas / my sisters / namaste / i see you /

thank you for making me who i am today /

for teaching me how to love loudly, to play

my own music to my own special heartbeat /

and helping me tune in to the feminine part of me /

my Godessence / God has since always been brimmin

in me / so may it be for all / Amen/Awomen