You Should Be So Lucky

This poem makes me feel happy and powerful. I don't know much about it but it speaks to me. Mohja Kahf is the author. She's an Arab American bad ass woman. I'd like to read more of her stuff.

So much of my life lately has consisted of failure and rejection. Which is fine. Totally fine. I am being torn apart to be rebuilt. I get it. But there are some days when it really gets me down. I love the way this poem takes on adversity with such fervour. I love the way arrogance is reclaimed. It's not a bad word. It's used with pride. It's inspiring. I need not let the rejection and failure get me down. I can tear its flesh like a guard dog tearing the leg off of an intruder.
Come at me. I dare you.


Ishtar Awakens in Chicago

 My arrogance knows no bounds
And I will make no peace today
And you shall be so lucky
To find a woman like me

Today neither will the East claim me
nor the West admit me
Today my belly is a well
wherein serpents are coiled
ready to poison the world,
and you should be so lucky.

All I have is my arrogance
I will teach it to lean back
and smoke a cigarette in your faces,
and you should be so lucky

No I will make no peace
even though my hands are empty
I will talk as big as I please
I will be all or nothing
And I will jump before the heavy trucks
And I will saw off my leg at the thigh
before I bend one womanly knee

I am poison
And you will drink me
And you should be so lucky.