God Forbid a young girl,
Has an absent father
A father who chose drugs over her but yet she still longs for his acceptance
But as age grew on her she started finding that acceptance from young boys.
Boys who if her father was an ideal man would have warned her not to date
The girl only longed for unconditional love

God Forbid a young girl,
Has a mother who is cold to the touch
A mother who never echos the words “I’m proud”
Even though that girl has big dreams that she accomplishes a little bit day by day
The mother still blames her for losing her man because she had that child
The girl only longed for acknowledgment

God Forbid a young girl,
Contemplates taking her life
Because both parents are uninvolved and unaware of her
The toxic environment eats away at her large heart and she slowly is fading away
She found out shortly that she would have to find love some other way
The girl only longed to be alive.

~Emma Rose

As a woman,
I don’t feel safe without keys between my finger while walking alone at night.
The wind howls at my skirt and reminds me how easy it is to lift up
I don’t feel safe until the door is locked and I let out a sigh of relief
As a lady,
My male coworkers and male friends remind me of how fragile I am
They find it fascinating that I have a motorcycle and play dek hockey
How fascinating it is that a weak lady can do the same thing a man can do
As a girl,
I am allowed to show my feelings, however if I show the wrong ones I’m a *****
If I show any kind of leadership I’m immediately looked down upon
The boys try to one up me and try to take over because a girl doesn't have the ability
As a holder of the X chromosome,
I don’t have control over my body, the government and white men do
I am to birth a child and when I say I’m unsure I’m told I will change my mind
My body is not my own but it belongs to everyone around me

~ Emma Rose

I do not write this poem to attack men
Rather to make them understand the world in which we live
Has been turned against us woman and left us in the dark
Where ads, magazines, video games all make us out to be ****** objects with no brains
And when that dark comes he will see us no more than a ****** object

When we speak of #MeToo it is questioned
What were you wearing
What were you drinking
Did you kiss him
Did you go to his house
Did you take any drugs

The ****** assault hurts less than the accusations
When principles, parents, friends all victim blame you
The sense of wanting revenge is replaced with wanting it to disappear.

2 of 3 ****** assaults go unreported because woman don’t feel like we’re being heard.
We are victim blamed and we are tired of being treated like ****
When health education and the media are more open with consent
And rapists actually get jail time
Is when I will live in a world where I am okay with having a girl as my child
But as of right now I am scared shitless that I will not be able to protect her from the ugly
That is why I stand with the #MeToo movement

Blue Hawaiian Punch tastes like..
Childhood memories and innocence
It's the color of bruises that litter my legs and arms at 6 years old
It’s Mom beating me with the belt and making me stand in the corner until my legs tremble
Because blue punch stains brown old carpets
The teachers must have assumed that like all 6 year old I play rough and get hurt innocently

Michelina’s Frozen Mac and Cheese tastes..
Cheap but cheesy and maybe frozen for a little too long
It also reminds me of racism and homophobia
When I made my first black friend who was 4 and I was 6
My Mom told me that he will get me into trouble and to stay away
When he fell off his bike my mom made him sound so alien I looked to see what color he bled

Apple Dapples, Cocoa Rice, Marshmallow Mateys, and 2% milk tastes like..
Sunday morning cartoons and waking up at 8 am
Dragging a chair over to the counter because I’m 6 and can’t see above it
And if I spill on the counter mom will spank me
It’s 8, 9, 10, 11, Noon. I want to play outside but Mom’s still asleep
So I go back to her room and shake her awake
“I want to go outside”
“Fine just go away”
I walk out the front door onto our screened porch littered with beer cans
Happy to play with my friends because at 6 I don’t think my life is any different from theirs

~Emma Rose