Ancient Nights, poems by Dani Tauni
Dani Tauni is an indigenous, working-class, vegan radical lesbian feminist in her mid-30s who is passionate about building sisterhood between women both locally and internationally. She has been involved in organising five women’s liberation conferences in three countries, is currently organising a women’s gathering and is active in ongoing campaigns against the sex-industry. She is the proud granddaughter of a strong Black woman of PNG heritage. When she is not writing, or organising you will find her on long hikes in the bush, swimming at the bottom of waterfalls, connecting with the spirits and nature. She is profoundly biophilic and believes that all life is sacred.
You can find more of her creative writing online: https://allecto.wordpress.com/poetry-is-not-a-luxury/
Cunt
Cunt
Wraps around my tongue like a kiss
This goddess
Whose name has been misshapen, cursed
Deliberately cast out
Speak her still
Cunt
Like the taste of her
Coming into power
A silenced voice unleashed
Into uncharted waters
With all the ships whose sails are filled
With different shades of freedom
Cunt
Oh, but we are finding her again my sisters
Excavating our treasures
Spoils of a one-sided war
We women created this beauty that is language
And our words have been stolen, twisted,
Burnt at the stake
Beaten and bloodied out of recognition
Cunt is a word of sacred power
Spelling us into a refusal to be silenced
Because it means
Dyke
Amazon
Lesbian
Woman
Woman
Woman
Still living, beating, breathing words
Language with which we claim the love of sisters
Language with which we claim the love of ourselves
You came from a cunt, you cunt
And she birthed you whole
And with
Immeasurable power
Ancient Nights
The way you bleed for them
Those boys
Those others
The way your words fall like rain
Into their darkness
And I was frozen
Until
The wind brought me out
What is it they say of loving
Of losing
I can see why you fear me
And this long
Ancient night
Then as I waited
And the many teared
Soliloquy
Has turned to envy
Of those boys
Those boys
That have you and will keep you
Treasured treasure
In their castles
Tallest towers
Wrapped in your long, silken hair
Sunshine in the morning all those boys
To keep you from the cold
I was your sister once
Upon a time
In greener meadows
Under shaded tree
What is it they say of loving
Of losing
I can see why you fear me
And this long
Ancient night
© Dani Tauni