My Anger Comes Out Sideways

Dear Delyara, Not in clean declarations. Not in powerful speeches. Not in brave honesty. It comes out in the sigh. The flat tone. The sharp response to the wrong question at the wrong time. The tears over ordinary things. The need for everyone to stop talking immediately before I become someone I won’t respect afterward. I know that means the anger is real. And I know it means I’m not giving it enough direct space to exist honestly. Women are taught to make anger acceptable before letting it become visible. Mine has gotten very skilled at sneaking out through symptoms instead. That doesn’t make it smaller. It makes it lonelier.