The piece I’m presenting tonight is not an apology,

it is the opposite.
It is loud,

it is fierce,

it is strong,

it is a piece of my story.
I am done apologizing for the space I take up,

for the ambition that I have,

for the art that I share

and for the gender that I am.
Society can shadow band me,

block me,

try to silence me out of fear,

but it will never undo the threads that weave my reason for existing. 

Michelle Sorensen