silencing speaking and speaking from silence

We always talk about how people don't listen
says my mother as we chat
and I know I have also thought about that
but I don't think I would have this position
before everyone expected me to be silent.

Now that I talk when told to refrain
I take up space that holds others back
from their lives and it isn't meant as an attack
but it seems to bring them pain
and their response to quiet me feels violent.

Who does not speak in history?
All the women and the subaltern people
and they have emerged more feeble
from the treachery
of the dominant.

So keep speaking I say to myself
and to all the people trying to find words
to express their feelings even when told it is absurd
that they speak and reveal
their truth in the moment.