Disobedience
 

I am not the woman you think I was — chaste
and holy, untouched before you graced
me with your mannish presence;

I owned my voice and my throat
I knew how to sing the high clear note
of freedom, long before I sang for you.

I am not the woman you think I will
become, someone soft and still,
pliant and pleasantly feminine —

I will be bold and not disheartened —
lounge naked, eat ice cream from the carton...
I will be that comfortable in my skin.

I am not the woman you think I should be —
I court pain. Men have hit their knees
before enduring the half. But I stand

and I hold firm. I am a soldier in my own
right; I bear no gun, my only might grown
straight from my mother's hand.

I am not the woman you think you know
you think me coy and careful, with so
many delicate pieces, a simple prize.

I am not the sort of woman you want to love —
I am too bold, too hard, I am the home of
goddess-memory. I rise.  

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Colleen was born on Long Island, NY. After successfully completing two bachelor's degrees at Centre College, she pursued graduate work at Emory University and completed her master's in Library Science at the University of Kentucky in 2006. She is currently an assistant professor and librarian at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Colleen currently pursues her MFA in Creative Writing at Spalding University, and has had poems accepted for publication in Creekwalker, Survivor's Review, and Poetry Midwest.  

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