Doesn't, Shouldn't, Won't Change Me

Short hair,

A t-shirt and shorts,

Shouldn’t change me from feminine

To “buddy,”

And being a girl

Shouldn’t erase the sports I’m good at,

Or the capacity for grit

I withhold.

Being a slight tomboy

Doesn’t attract me to girls,

Shouldn’t change how I’m perceived,

Won’t make me less thoughtful.

What I wear doesn’t have to match my mind,

Or at least stereotypes say about what I wear,

And I’m allowed to toggle between styles,

Depending on how I feel.

Caring about school,

Not having an inflated ego,

Transforming my thoughts

To verses,

Doesn’t make me incapable

Of throwing a ball,

And I won’t let it

Make me not try in PE.

Because how I look and act

Doesn’t change who I am,

Doesn’t make me more or less

If anything,

Because it doesn’t 

                     Actually

                          Matter.