To all the women I've  ever called pretty,
before strong or intelligent,
I am sorry.

I am sorry I made it sound as though
something as simple as what you're born with
is the only thing you could be proud of
when you have crushed the sky.

I will, from now, call you resilient, or extraordinary.
Not because you are not pretty,
but because you are so much more than that.

"Your body is ruined" he says,
"because it has been touched by another man's hands"
before his.
Ask him how many woman's bodies have
his hands ruined,
and,
what is wrong,
in his mind,
with a man's hands that only know
how to ruin a woman's body,
rather than
love it.

It's time for us to reclaim our bodies.

When it rains,
I don't go out to feel it trickling down my skin,
to feel myself being washed away,
my thoughts sinking with the weight.
Instead I grab a raincoat
draping myself around it.
I fear
my clothes clamped against my skin,
your eyes would crawl underneath and
make me feel
less skin,
more bone

she gave me her nudes
she was bare
and naked
and so out
and open
and i willingly
accepted it
because it wasnt the nudes
that showed her body
the physical aspects
that made her beautiful
it was the words
she didnt choose
and the spontaneity
that left her
either from her lips
or her fingers
or ink

she was as bare
as her nudes
and i accepted
her for her.

your mother told you fairytales
but she didn't tell you this:

when the suns sets and the wolves run
you will find that sometimes
the princess and the witch are one
and red riding hood will eat the wolf

there is a fire in your blood
a forest building in your veins
don't try to lose the moonlight
you were meant for this

between dawn and dusk
you were made for miracles
and you can run all you want
but in the light of the day
the wolves will always call you back