Like a Girl
I was playing catch in my backyard with my father
You were the boy across the street that didn’t know how to flirt
So you settled for a passive agressive ‘You throw like a girl!’
When the ball rolled to your feet.
My response?
My response to you taking my gender and turning it into an insult?
Hating the color pink for the next six years
And trying to beat my brothers at football
For the record I won
And trying to prove to that idiot across the street I deserved
To be myself without feeling uncomfortable for my gender
The next year it was my brother
My own brother from the same womb
Two years older than him and still he told me I
“Climbed like a girl.”
And his green eyes flickered to precisely your shade of baby blue
Your stupid petty insult became the face of sexism
Just last week when that idiot on the school steps
Though he had the right to tell me I had a nice body
In the most vulgar way he could
He had your face for a moment
I’ve always been a fool for boys with pretty hazel eyes
That smell like rain
And last summer after months of giving my heart to that boy
He decided I deserved more so
Instead of trying to be more
He left.
And his voice speaking those words?
Yep. It was yours
Any boy who though leaving me was enough to
Crush my dreams
Look again
You were never one of them.
Women are powerful
Women are beautiful
Women are influential
And women were once girls
So when you said I throw like a girl you’re telling me
I pitch like Jennie Finch
With the intelligence of Michelle Obama and
The poise of Beyonce
When you said I climb like a girl you’re telling me
I climb like Ashima Shiraishi
With the strength of Serena Williams
And the balance of Simone Biles
So here’s my response to your petty one-sided insults;
Hell yeah I throw like a girl
Hell yeah I climb like a girl
Hell yes, I am a girl
Try to keep up.
Copyright © Iris Blade | Year Posted 2018
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