I am delighted to tell you that I have poems in Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women – an anthology which is currently one of the best selling new releases on Amazon USA.
These poems testify both to the challenges that women face in our society, and to our power to overcome them.
Many thanks to Gabriela (our editor) and to Ingrid (our publisher) for this wonderful anthology.
Don’t try to name me by your names
I will not play any of your games
I’ve lived with your chaining fear
but I have always had ambition
won’t accept your conditions
I am a free, sustained idea
I am universe, scientist, mother
once you tried to cut me with wolfwhistles
now you imply I’m useless gristle
always someone you do your best to smother
Don’t try to fit me into your little world
because I rise high, little man
won’t bow to your sexist demands
this woman has her soul unfurled
Copyright © 2021 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Don’t try to explain
You will find it a pain
Quite literally
I’ve dealt with men like you
Who think what you say is true
I can put you down brilliantly
So talk a whole load more
Though you are a stunning bore
Because, as you do, it adds piquancy
You’re explaining something I wrote myself
For which I would never need help
But your need to explain shows your fragility
The other men gather to smile
As you go the extra mile
But, you see, they all know me
They wait at your back
Wolves in a pack
As I smile in magnanimity
They will get their show
Not yet though
I’m enjoying your vapidity
Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond
I sat on various committees writing Telecommunications standards in my early thirties. In my early fifties many younger men in my field simply will not believe that a middle-aged woman has any technical ability, let alone is an expert. It is depressing as I thought we had moved further in the struggle for equality than that.
I never put these idiots down in a nasty way. Politeness kills…
The Cheesesellers Wife 