I say that I am uncomfortable
being around a strange man.
they call me a ***** and say,
"don't you know that it's not all men?"

I am drugged and assaulted by
a man who I thought that
I could trust. they say,
"you should've known better."

they say that my scars are ugly.
they say "you should hide those!"

but when I cover them up, they say
"women shouldn't have tattoos.
why did you ruin your body?"

I wear shorts and they say,
"what a *****! those are too short."

I put on long jeans and they say,
"what a *****! you're no fun."

I care too much about
their opinions and they say,
"you're too insecure! stop caring!"

I stop caring and they hate that
they can no longer control me.

you can't win, darling.
they will always hate you
for one thing or another.
at least let them hate you
for being too real.

be you.
life is too short
to fake being
anyone else.

you lost someone real.
you lost a genuine, good friend
who would've done anything
to make you happy.

I only lost someone
who never gave a ****
about me or my happiness.

think about this
and then tell me again
who was truly hurt by
the end of our friendship.

we both may have hurt,
but you're the only one
who lost something here.

I won.

every five to seven years,
the human body is able to
develop an entirely new
set of taste buds.

every seven to ten years,
the human body is able to
replace every single skin cell
with a completely new one.



this means that one day,
not too far away from now,

I will have a body that
your fingers never touched

and a mouth that never
tasted the bittersweet lies
resting on your bottom lip.



one day, not too far from today,
the feeling of your fingerprints
will no longer linger on my skin.

the photos of you will no longer
make my skin crawl, and
tears of shame and regret
will no longer form in the
corners of my eyes.



my body will be mine again,
and you will have no control
over any part of me.

my brain will be full
of only my thoughts,
and not the thoughts that
you trained me to think.

my skin will be touched
only by those who I trust,
and you will never be
granted that ability.

I will reclaim my power
and my sense of self

and one day, when I hear it,
your name will mean nothing.

you will mean nothing.
I will be myself again.
totally, unapologetically myself.


isn't that comforting?

the other day, I went on a date.
it didn't go well at all.

he made some sexist comment
about how we wouldn't work if I
made more money than he did.

he told me that I'm smart,
but then added "for a woman."

I paid for myself, and then I left.



I guess that's not a good thing,
but I'm happy about it

because there was a time when
I wouldn't have realized that
I deserve better.