Alix Olson Subtle Sister Lyrics

So we’ve learned karate
Carry knives on our runs
Wield words like weapons
Prepare glares-like hidden guns
We’ve deconstructed, demystified
Tried retribution, remythologized
We’ve been diagnosed with your diseases
And still tried pleases, tried tears, tried Jesus
You wanna see what it’s like down here
In this pool of someone else’s rules, well
Jump in, take a swim or just sit in this pit
Squishing bare toes in someone else’s bullshit
We do it all the time
Still we’ve tried being patient
Collected, calm, nice
Trying praying, tried laying you
Paying the price
We’ve learned to scream
Until our throats throbbed
What else do you do
While your c*nt’s being robbed
And they say “you’ve made progress, girls
Take a rest in-between”
But see while you’re resting
Someone else is progressing
It’s what i’ve seen
So i take back the whispers
The cute mute act
And the high pitched giggles, yeah
I take them back
I won’t avoid your stare, evade your step
Nothing of that kind
Won’t help you help me victimize
The only space that’s mine
See now I’d put my life on the line just to see them trip
Frown and say “funny love, i never saw you slip.”
I say, “my life on the line-”
You say “man, she’s jaded.”
I say, “maybe control’s overrated.”
Like when we cackled, they called us witches
Now we don’t giggle they call us bitches
Well I’m cacklin loud, taking it back, full of hiss Cacklin loud, cackling proud now
And they’re getting nervous with this kissing each other
Scratching their heads
Whats going on brother
And they yell feed your husband, stop feeding the fire!
And we just cackle
We’re a f*ckin witches choir
And we sing “sharpen your knives, sharpen your daughters
Steam up the mirrors, bake us some dreams
Cook up some riots, fry up some screams
And when you’re sick of your skirts
Slice open the seams
Cause they want domestics
Theyll give us needle and thread
For patching their egos
We’ll sow revolution instead.”
And i hear you saying
“subtle, sister
Less bite, more bark
You can make your point without leaving such a mark
Subtle, sister
Stop your seething
I think we got it, i think we’re even:”
Subtle like a penis pounding its target?
Subtle like your hissing from across the street?
Subtle like the binding on my sisters’ feet?
Subtle like her belly raped with his semen
Draped in his f*ck, funny
Doesn’t seem even
See, sometimes anger’s subtle, stocked in metaphor
Full of finesse and dressed in allure
Yes, sometimes anger’s subtle, less rage than sad
Leaking slow through spigots you didn’t know you had
And sometimes it’s just
F*ck you
F*ck you
You see, and to me
That’s poetry too