And Another...

This poem is a few years old and way too long, but I still like the content. I've kept it all this time, but I haven't come back to revise it until now. One friend did do the first round of editing for me, but I still have a long way to go. In fact, I'll be editing as I post it here.
***

NPM #22


"Internal Affairs"

I was outside
marching, pumping fists,
singing chants, raving rants,
making a difference...

But night fell, and I had to go home.

Tried talking feminism to my mother. Validation.
Tried talking sexism to my father. Objectification.
Tried talking religion to my sister. Denomination.
Tried talking institutions to my brother. Socialization.
Tried talking body image to my friend. Assimilation.

Then dawn came and I had to leave home.

I took to the streets -
pockets full of leftist jargon,
backpack stuffed
with leaflets and bottled water, a T-shirt
flaunting the face of a leader on the front
and a clever catchphrase on the back...
A heart full of cowardice,
but a face without fear.

Revolutions seems much more possible out here.
***


Okay, so that doesn't seem terribly long, but I cut seven stanzas. (I know!) I elaborated on each of the aforementioned "isms" and "ations". It wasn't quite working for me. I don't think this is the final solution either, but it's closer and no longer as laborious a read. In the workshop on Saturday, the facilitator mentioned how too many abstracts can kill a poem (I'm paraphrasing here); if it gets too theoretical or ideological, it starts to sound like a speech and not a poem. Earlier versions of this piece are a perfect example of that, which is why they're not here.

What can I say? I was an eager undergraduate and taking in everything like a sponge. After a few Women's Studies, Sociology and Lit. Theory classes the isms were everywhere! I couldn't turn the receptors off. And there wasn't anything new under the sun, but it was all new to me. I was simultaneously enthralled and disgusted by the things I could now perceive and analyze. It was overwhelming in the best and worst ways.