My I. Q. Lyrics by Ani Difranco

My I. Q.

When I was four years old
They tried to test my i.q.
They showed me a picture
Of 3 oranges and a pear
They said,
Which one is different?
It does not belong
They taught me different is wrong
But when I was 13 years old
I woke up one morning
Thighs covered in blood
Like a war
Like a warning
That I live in a breakable takeable body
An ever-increasingly valuable body
That a woman had come in the night to replace me
Deface me
See,
My body is borrowed
Yeah, I got it on loan
For the time in between my mom and some maggots
I dont need anyone to hold me
I can hold my own
I got highways for stretchmarks
See where Ive grown
I sing sometimes
Like my life is at stake
cause youre only as loud
As the noises you make
Im learning to laugh as hard
As I can listen
cause silence
Is violence
In women and poor people
If more people were screaming then I could relax
But a good brain aint diddley
If you dont have the facts
We live in a breakable takeable world
An ever available possible world
And we can make music
Like we can make do
Genius is in a back beat
Backseat to nothing if youre dancing
Especially something stupid
Like i.q.
For every lie I unlearn
I learn something new
I sing sometimes for the war that I fight
cause every tool is a weapon -
If you hold it right.