"I Dare You to Understand What Makes Me a Woman"

"i dare you to understand what makes me a woman"

Take a walk in the dark.

Every shadow, rattle, creak, crack, groan

Is an attack, waiting

Praying on the mind.

Misapprehension of persecution

Sticks like sap from gnarled trees.

Accept a minimum wage job.

Adore being the youngest girl there.

Receive texts, advancements, harassment

From your bosses boss.

Mistake exploitation for opportunity.

Learn to trust yourself, and not anyone else.

Take care of your sister,

Forgive her for fleeing.

Reach out to the woman you looked up to,

Before she disappears

Into a solution of of salt water and booze.

Shave your head to prove a point to your mother.

Carry her disappointment.

Silently avoid mirrors everyday for weeks, and

Inaudibly fight yourself to accept your beauty.

Endure every dick who calls you dyke,

Watch yourself grow again.

Put your fist through your prison.

Lick the blood off your knuckles,

Relish in your freedom.

Take what you’ve earned, what you’ve learned,

And fuck off.

Fill my shoes.

Though, be gentle with

These converse that wrap my feet in careful love

Worn, torn, tattered,

Threadbare and eroding,

have sacrificed more for my well-being

than i care to admit.