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# You Have To Be A Man
- URL: https://www.fsm.ink/you-have-to-be-a-man-v3i6/
- Published: 2023-08-31T14:21:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-03T18:30:11.000Z
- Author: Lily Greeley
- Tags: Poetry, #Import 2026-08-03 09:59

*by Lily Greeley*

The boy wont be okay—-  
cause you’re leading him away  
you’re leading him away

  
Why act like hell  
and push him on the rails  
you’ll be leading him to graves  
you’re leading him to graves

  
You fish her things away,  
and teach the boys to rape  
you’re leading them astray  
you’re leading them astray

  
I’ll never be okay—  
while beating her’s the way  
turning girls to clay  
turning them to clay

  
I’ll never stay,  
in my own lane—-  
while the men who rule decay  
soulless husks aflame

  
Free the sisters of shallow graves  
and the ones who can’t escape  
the ones who can’t escape

  
I can’t stand the way you shame—-  
with trauma burned into their veins  
can’t redeem the pain  
or forget the god damn name

  
I can’t stand this blame—-  
you think it’s all okay  
to explain it all away  
but that can’t be okay

  
that can’t be okay

  
leave the chil-dren, out of—this  
leave the mo-ther, tending her own child  
leave the sing-le, mending up the strife  
even da-ddy, could live a better life

  
but no, no, no.

  
Fund a hospital bombing  
Or another Latin coup  
Don’t worry if she’s dying  
Can’t put the world on you

  
Leave a permanent blotter  
A transatlantic tomb  
You barely know your own daughter  
But you’re smelling her perfume

  
If you leave a woman, shoot her  
Said the alcoholic loon  
“Hemingway’s a genius,  
no woman should complain,”

  
Do you hear the things you say?  
Marching women to their graves—  
laughing all the way,  
thinking only bout her frame  
how she’s a slut cause she’s got fame

  
I ask you all again,  
why is this okay?  
burn it all in flames  
the patriarchal reign  
hand over the reins  
to the ones who know their way

  
let freedom ring  
free from the cling  
this imperialist regime  
where the dark skinned suffocate  
under alabaster drapes  
and puppetry in-baked

  
puppertry in-baked—-