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.