She came into the class
Scared and confused
Perhaps tired and sick
Of wearing her mask…
Disgusted, she said,
“A boy stuck his tongue out at me!”

I looked her over
Up &
Down
And very care
-fully did I see

That her very tiny skirt
Rested way above her knee

Did this girl,
really, not know?
That her body will beckon? And she ain’t 12 no mo’!!

That she is—
In fact,
No longer a girl
But woman of curves: a woman of nerve
Who must take on the world
And everything that it serves?

So for the rest of her life,
Wherever she goes
She will see the tongues of men
Both young
& old.

No matter what
She does
Or doesn’t
Know

She’ll be pinned up against
The urges they possess.

Through no fault of her own,
She’ll become an object
to discuss
And she’ll cringe daily
At the ideas that
They thoughtfully
conjure up.