For the Fems

Do you chase the joy inside you?

Cause sometimes I feel like a pinball on a guided track.

Like I’ve got levers pushing me up and down, and when I stop pushing for a moment,

I might just collapse to the ground

We’ve all got ideas of our own personal hell

Some folks call it other people

But I call it sitting still

Cause I lose it when I stop moving

Like a shark who can’t stop swimming

So you’ll never glimpse me sitting pretty or waiting for anybody

Who thinks a woman is a biddy that can live on compliments from men

And I’m at my wit’s end with these women who can justify it to themselves

Who quell their inspiration for a feast of shallow ends

Isn’t there something to be said for having my shit together?

Or do I have to weather some leather fetish to be ranked above the rest?

I may be young, but I know what I want

And I don’t have to flaunt this body nor does it have to be gaunt

See that’s the beauty of the beasts

Us off-kilter belles

We’re not just fems for better men, we’re fems for better selves

Cause self-loathing’s quite a bitch

And that beezy Debby Downer was never quite our type of chick

I’m about a balanced diet

About explosions of laughter and conversation that sticks to your ribs

And I’m salty when I’m on fire, so really is there any other that would you have it?

Like Erykah says sometimes, “I’m an artist and I’m serious about my shit.”

Meaning I create for a reason and I live to be creative

So I emote, and I write, and I dance with abandon

Cause sometimes, it’s life that’s demanding

And I’m just unstoppable

I’m like a champagne cork popping off the bottle.

I’m a crooked fighter pilot with quick fingers on the throttle.

I’m like a fuzzy bunny hopping from sipping too much André.

I may look funny when I’m dancing, but that’s just me stomping on Beyoncé.

‘Cause, yeah, I’m a I’m a I’m a – a diva

But a diva could never be a female version of a hustler

We’re so on top of this game that we could turn a pimp into a fluffer.

In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say I’m like Major Lazer’s MC

With 3,000 people at Coachella getting lifted off my energy

Cause I’m the sauna steam, I’m the artist’s dream, I’m on the ladder going up,

And right before I jump,

I’m like a Rasta going off yelling BWUH BWUH BWUH.

You can’t contain me in these moments

Cause I am nothing but energy

I’m just matter and music and pressure and vitality

See synesthesia is a bitch cause it’s difficult to describe

But I couldn’t find another way to get inspired if I tried

Some people say that musicians are like conduits to God

But I don’t get down on bended knee - I make salaam with a head nod.

I believe what I can feel,

You can see it on my face

Fuck a ringing eardrum

I am a devotee of bass

I am as passionate about music as I am about movement

So what’s the use of having limbs if you aren’t going to use them

Us Fems were never meant to be sequestered and contained

And those who try to stop us are attempting to in vain.

There is joy in the chase

And the reward is your breath

You’re invited to try to and match me

But I have yet to meet a dude who can lap me in this mess.

For now I am in love with all of life’s gifts

And I will shimmy through infinity

Until I have nothing left to give.