PATRIARCHY
Sean P. Hotchkiss
Father's daughter, husband's bride.
The choice taken from her, and she accepts it–for now.
Passive, subservient, obedient is how she has learned to be.
But this is not really her, although she does not know it yet.
Husband found and courtship orchestrated, she is wed with, perhaps,
a skewed sense of what love is.
Love is submission and obedience,
it is not mutual respect or equality.
Time passes; days, months, years, and still matrimony does not feel like love.
More submission, more obedience must be the answer. But it is not.
Freedom is the answer. Not the answer that will heal the marriage,
but the answer that will heal herself.
Not heal so much as reveal her strength, hidden within.
Unveiling the person she has always been.
The rebellion in her heart–thought of as weakness or failing–is strength and truth.
Honest now, she breaks the bonds that have kept her from being herself.
Smiles are natural, her face shines, doubts diminish–mostly.
She is herself now–unmarried, unfettered, and free.
Sean P. Hotchkiss
Sean P. Hotchkiss was born and raised in the Portland Metro area of Oregon. He is a proud father of three, grateful partner of one, and widower. He rediscovered his love of writing after returning to college after three gap-decades. Sean is in his last term towards earning an A.A.S. in Business Marketing at Portland Community College (PCC) with plans to pursue a Master’s degree in clinical mental health. In addition to his “day job” as a digital marketer, he is also a reading and writing tutor at PCC.
He believes he does his best work where thought meets inspiration, and seeks out those things and people that stimulate both.
You can engage with Sean on Instagram @sphotch_the_writer or on his website at https://www.sphotch.com.
