Female

I shut the door
and keep my head up high
I'm standing tall and proud
because I'm beautiful
my mother told me so

It's cold and blue outside
the roads are black and bare
and all the people are frowning
on the street where I live

my sandals are clicking against the pavement
I hear voices
calling out
words so ugly
my stomach lurches
and then I realise
those words were meant for me

I walk by jeering faces
cruel eyes and mouths
twisted like nightmares
I try to keep my head up high
but I pull my jacket closer

A boy half my size
spits at my feet
the mechanic on the corner
rapes me with his eyes
the old men at the barber shop
hurl words at my back
I'm thirteen years old

and all the voices slither
like snakes around my ankles
I try to keep my head up high
but my ears are aching
with the words that bite my heart
I am dirt
they tell me
I'm only thirteen

my shoulders are hunched
weary of the wounds
how dare i walk alive
I try to keep my head up high
I used to be beautiful
at least my mother told me so

I am what God made me
and yet
all the people are frowning
on the street where I live
they treat me
like he'd made a mistake

they push my face into the dirt
and make me choke
the world is raining anger on me
because I was born a female
and that seems to be a sin