Yield

Old English g(i)eldan ‘pay, repay’, of Germanic origin. The senses ‘produce, bear’ and ‘surrender’ arose in Middle English.

A moveable seat; a seat of justice, or of authority; a vehicle born by men, a sedan.

--from Chair, Susan Howe.

We don’t need the armour to wield our power,

our justice was born for all

sentient beings. Equal. A moral code.

Our vehicle is emotive. Our vehicle the tongue.

I once thought of competition as a given.

A victor and its spoils.

Now it’s a matter of survival. I want a less divided world.

No longer will the penis be a power-

tool, no longer a womb a tomb

for a million soldiers. The night will come soon

when the axis shifts

with an equal number of seats in the room.