14

You’re going to be 14 soon

And you are becoming a beautiful young woman

Your face is getting more defined

Your lips are becoming fuller

Your body…

Oh, sweetie, your body

What is it about your body?

What is it about your growing body

that makes people so uncomfortable?

You’re going to be 14 soon

and you can’t wear your favorite shirt anymore

They told you it was just “too tight”

though it falls loosely around your stomach

You're going to be 14 soon

and that dress has got to go

You've grown so much, it’s just “too short”

Too wrapped around your ever-growing hips

Too much of a warm embrace around your body

It’s just wrong

You’re going to be 14 soon

and you will be weary of wearing shorts out when it’s hot

Because your legs are now a public display of shamelessness

Because that extra inch defines whether or not you are worthy of pity

Because it will be night time when you come home

and you don’t want to be noticed

Your survival depends on going unnoticed

You’re going to be 14 soon

and you will start to develop a deaf hear

to the kind of men that seem to be defined as scum

but then are just shrugged off

“It is what it is”

You’re going to be 14 soon

and it will be about whether you are a saint or a sinner

An innocent or a nymphomaniac

A prude or a slut

There is no shade of grey for you,

beautiful young woman,

because you are not complex

You are not immensely intricate or interesting

You do not get to be large

You do not contain multitudes

You are this ever changing body

and the conversation will always be about what you do with it

You’ll be ruthlessly slandered

for your sexual choices

for your hemlines

for your necklines

But that dotted line

written up by a publicity company

that believes it to be a good idea

to use your body to sell their product

isn’t up for discussion

It’s not hypocrisy, young lady

There’s no wrong doing here, lil’ chick

This isn’t oppression, you bitch

There is no such thing as a patriarchy