An Intrinsic Exquisite

nothing left to

offend

we are buried alive

I fear for my future

the women
appear stunted
everywhere I look
including, of course, the mirror

the women look stunted
they look like they might disappear
fade into the scrunched bones they call their spines
spines bent since the infancy of their womanhood

girls are ok
gender neutral
they can both be bold, brave and brazen
no harm done

but once a woman becomes a woman
she'd better buckle up and begin shrinking
suck herself in tighter and tighter
til there is nothing left to offend
nothing left to defend

we are bent to the authority
condemned to bonds of femininity
despair encourages defeat
and vice versa