A Love Note for Strong, Smart Girls

In your ninth grade theater class, you asked your teacher why boys don't like you.

She thought a second and then said,"You're too loud; you laugh too loud. You're too smart.You're too funny. Boys don't like that. It intimidates them.You're always moving and wiggling. It's like you can't sit still."

I'm sorry she didn't have the words to properly explain.

Let me explain for her.

What she meant to say was this:

You are smart;You are strong;You are funny;You are sharp.

You are inquisitive;You are useful;You are playful.

Your fingers tap rhythmslike crackling wood;Your feet want to dance

and how you glow!

You need fuel!You crave!You hunger!And so you go devouringbooks and cinema and musicand you read encyclopediasand dictionaries because you musteat everything, know everything:You were made topave new ways tomake clearings todestroy and rebuild

and you are fearless,

and you are dauntless,and you are mystic and strangeand terrifying and furious and raw

and the heat that comes off youis blistering if you stand too closebut oh how some will

bask in your warmth.

You are explosive!

You blaze!You roar!You engulf!

You are a fire, darling.Some people will always be afraidto play with you.