Tonight a poem. How many of you were considered ‘too smart’? At the same time, you were not considered as smart as the men around you. If that is you, this poem is for you.

TOO SMART FOR A WOMAN

 All my life I heard
How smart you were.
You knew so much,
Or so it seemed.
You could spout facts
Like a whale spouts water.
Everyone looked up to you.
Everyone listened.

 Now I understand.
You spout facts like water
But they are not always true.
You make up more than you know.
You cannot bear to say you are wrong
Because it would destroy your
Manly sense of self.

 Because I once said “I don’t know”.
Because I am a woman.
Because I use reference books.
Because I am a woman.
I was never seen as being smart,
Though I was seen as being too smart
For a woman.

 It took a long time for me to figure it out
But I finally learned
I am smarter than you.