Tell me how pretty I look
In my little red dress.
Tell me I am as bold and brilliant
As the Crimson on my skin.

Tell me you think about me at 2 p.m.,
When your shift is almost up
And you want to make plans.

Tell me the greatest sight
You ever hope to see
Is a small bump
Developing above my hips.

I don't want to play pretend

All I want is to hear the palpatations
Underneath your ribs
As I lay on your chest,
Atop the rise of your breath.

Right now I'm afraid that
I loved you so much,
It took everything out from under me
And I'm left winded -
Perfectly alone,
Wanting to know if I can ever feel
Like a galaxy lives in my arteries,
The place your stars used to swim.

I lay here
Cursing my skin
For reminiscing the days
Where I forgot where I end
And you begin

I want to feel
Something
Without feeling
You

It's fine with me
If all I'll ever be good at
Is keeping my head up

Hold yourself up
Even if you've lost your spine

I hope he doesn't make your hips burn
And your stomach churn
I hope he keeps you safe

I used to cry at night,
Thinking of all the girls I know.
Id go to dance class,
And hug the tiny bunheads to my chest
Telling them their pirouettes were beautiful
Telling them they were worth something

I'd sit on the porch at my fathers house,
Watching my half sister make mud pies,
And feel protesting tears fall down my cheeks,
Knowing one day she'd look at her brown eyes
In the cracked bedroom mirror
And sigh,
Wishing they were ice blue like the girls from school.
I wanted to make her feel worth something
So I would play her Brown Eyed Girl,
And her chocolate irises would sparkle.

I'd think of all the girls who had confessed to me
In early morning, up all night, quiet, cracked and almost crying tones,
How their uncle, how their brother,
Their boyfriend
Their cousin
Their best friend
Their boss
Their dad
Had touched them and kissed them,
How they'd kept the secret buried in their chest,
Under a lump in their throat
And I wanted to tell them they were worth something.

I used to cry at night,
Thinking of all the girls I know.
I don't cry anymore,
Not because uncles and brothers have stopped touching,
Not because brown eyes became blue,
Not because the sin and the anger and the pain is gone,
But because I know girls -

I know pink ribbons.
I know pirouettes,
I know brown eyes
I know rom coms,
I know sleepovers,
I know red lipstick.
Because I know girls,

I know strength.
I know resilience.
I know bravery and anger and fight,
I know warmth and sunshine
I know love and nurture
I know waking up at seven a.m.,
Feeling capable
I know smiling my braced teeth at all the girls at the orthodontist who feel ugly for not being perfect,
I know holding hands in cinema parking lots,
I know friendship.
Because I know girls,
I know strength.

You were the poison in my wine
And I drank it just to feel drunk,
To feel like I was alive
Because the best way to feel alive
Is to know you're slowly dying

she's off limits
but im easy
that's why you want her
that's why you touch me.
it almost worked.
Don't pressure me.