“Magic” A Poem (of sorts) by Charlotte Abroms
Performed at the One of One International Women’s Day Event March 8th, 2022 in Naarm/Melbourne.
I used to think the path was magic
One yes leads to another “yes please”
It’s a positive, a plus
Who would have thought saying yes so much
would swallow us up?
I used to think the path was magic
I thought that being brave and kind
would guide me through the traffic
I didn’t know what they would take from me
They would take take take until
my tank was empty
We give our tricks to the people we believe
A quick fix, direct access to our sleeves
A little to the left of where the heart beats
and bleeds
I used to think the path was magic
The kind of music that turns your chest inside out
The kind of lyric that sets the bar so high
you can only punch down
But the magic swiftly shifts
And the magic quickly lifts
When the magician loses sight of all
her tricks
Now I yearn for those I grieve
The ones I left behind while I let the music guide me
The ones who lost their lives who were
just like me
Fickle
And brittle
And riddled
with empathy
This goes out to anyone whose stint in this industry has been fleeting
To anyone who’s ever been interrupted in a meeting
To those who have been made to feel small
And unseen
And unheard
To those who never got to have the final word (that they deserved)
To those who have had their brain picked so many times
it feels like there’s no brain left
To those who know how betrayal feels when it physically hurts you in your chest
To those who have had their morals trampled on and stamped on
To those who have felt like giving up when everything is so unjust
and tough
To those who have been underpaid
and made to feel second grade
To those who have been asked to sign an NDA
To those of us who are being silenced for having a say
To those who have been bullied and mistreated
To those who have walked into a room and haven’t been greeted
To those who have had someone else take credit for their work
To those who have felt broken, hurt and burnt
To those, like me, who were told if you want to be a mother
Well, it’s one or the other
To those who feel less than what they were when they first started out
To those who have had to keep quiet so someone else doesn’t get found out
To those who are sometimes scared, like me
To those who sometimes feel too scared to speak
To those who have given every fibre of their being
to this career
And to those of you who spout feminism on your social media
Well, feminism starts right here
With the people on your team
With those who have helped you beam
Feminism starts right here
I used to think the path was magic
It’s taken years to navigate the traffic
But the magic lives not in the path itself
Now I know the magic lives somewhere else
It’s when the music breathes
It’s in you and me
It’s in our beings
The magic is out in this crowd
It’s in the songs you write
And in the stories we tell
It’s glistening, it’s listening
It’s being heard
It’s being seen
It’s being believed
Charlotte Abroms is a Melbourne-based music manager, a recipient of the Fast Track Fellowship, The Lighthouse Award and the recent winner of Music Victoria’s Outstanding Woman in Music Award. Charlotte’s ethos is based around guiding careers and businesses with a focus on empathy, kindness, creativity, generosity and humour. She’s also 8 months pregnant with her first baby.
www.hearheargroup.com
