Keep Quiet Girl

Free Verse

Keep quiet girl, no tears.

Tears are for sissies and girls, right?

I bit my lip secured my toughness like a rite of passage

tough like my brothers tough like my brothers don’t cry

I wasn’t really told to be quiet I wasn’t really told not to be a girl or that there was anything wrong with being a girl

not directly

the subtleties speak like screams

I learned by the callous words of strangers the roving hands and eyes of the world the televised jokes at my expense I learned by what this world tolerated, encouraged (or discouraged) — by what the world laughs at.

I learned that bruises on skin weren’t enough to make me feel tough Bruises only led to shame covered in foundation, powder, concealer.

cover it up, girl, put on your ‘face’

I learned that bearing my children refusing the relief of pain medications — still, my toughness spoke, a fragile whisper

be quiet girl, do not complain do not cry out in pain

I wonder, my daughter, what strength do you cling to? Do you feel you must defy your gender to find approval, okay-ness?

What faces do you put on to apologize to the world that you were born a girl? To justify your voice? To earn yourself choice?

Speak.

I want for you daughter, (sister, mother, friend,) undefined gender un-gendered solidarity of soul and spirit

you are more than your gender you are not less by your gender you are soul, spirit, unequivocal beauty

you, and all you, my Phoenix sisters rise, and be.

Christina Ward 🌼 is a poet and nature writer who also dabbles in writings on feminism, parenting, mental health, domestic violence advocacy, human nature and other topics. She is a Top Writer in 7 tags.

~*~ Fiddleheads & Floss Poetry ~*~