I accuse women

NEW WOMAN – ME!  no 11

 

we allowed it to happen
that men took charge of our earth,
we women allowed ourselves
to be robbed of our original task
by a lack of self respect and laziness
we women dethroned ourselves

we allowed it to happen
that we women naively played helplessness
we hid ourselves
behind the cloak of imagined inferiority

but the commission we received
has never been withdrawn
we, women and men, have to take charge
protect and maintain the earth
that was entrusted to both of us

© Tina van Lieshout
translation John Wijngaards

MEDITATIONS

desert journey three selves in me me broken in pieces male and female my choice irrepressible thrust the money dragon and the religion dragon evolving identity women carry the church

the force of time I accuse women I accuse men my inner struggle past present future my dream and God saw that it was very good phallus worship on the way

Tina van Lieshout was a Dutch Catholic woman who felt called to the priesthood. Her diocese refused her admission to the priestly formation programme which she challenged in high-profile court cases. She lost. Being both a gifted artist and poet, she described her despair in a series of paintings and meditations. But she also expressed through them her determination to realise her potential as a free and equal person.  Her work was published in the Dutch book Ook in de Naam van de Moeder en de Dochter [= ‘Also in the Name of the Mother and the Daughter’], Wilco, Amersfoort 2000. She died in 2010.