Audacious Ambition

By Amanda Wilde

so hot until it’s not
so long as I smile
Not that smile.

less teeth, please
less vagina dentata, please
less evidence that I could devour
what devours me

How very unbecoming of me
to be becoming.

if you could just…
hold the line between HR and
hell

between performance review
and who I became
when I split in two

you see me stretched
between work and home
spilt milk and stardust on your spreadsheets

work‐life balance!
like my body is a seesaw
and not a sacred art studio

did you see me stretch beyond the stars
see me bridge heaven and earth
that’s how I got you here

made every bone in your body
in a dress
Not that dress.

“Is that what she’s wearing?”

“You don’t like it?”
I stitched it together with my very own rage
let out the seams to make room for divinity
palatability was just

a tad

too

tight

Audacious Ambition indeed
to unlearn, dismantle, double-down
to lead, mother, imagine
something new into existence.

Dismissed as if it’s ordinary.

Henceforth
the decision makers
will be the people
who make
all of the people.