Girlhood

The girls,

the little kids on the bus, 

switching seats and grabbing friends and TALKING

loud and jarring

life is joy, to them,

life is play.

I want them to stay there.

To never have to worry about

grades or

their parents or

if they're pretty enough

or talented enough

or smart enough

to never have to fall in love

and then out of it

and then into heartbreak

to never have to say NO or STOP or GO AWAY

to never be stolen or broken by men

I want them to stay in their little girlhood, right now

the making of beautiful creatures.

And we're not perfect

they certainly aren't.

They fix their eyes upon me

big and round

full of wonder.

I'm a big kid to them

but they're not scared of me.

They're not judging me or my inability to say anything they can relate to.

What are you listening to?

Conan Gray and AJR. Listen to them when you're older, okay?

Okay.

It's all I got

but it's enough.

What happened to that?

To little girls running around playgrounds and buses and just accepting their peers?

Why the hate, ladies?

I want to stay in my girlhood too.

What's hard now will seem easy breezy next year

and I'm scared.

But these littles aren't worrying about that -

they're blissful and free.

They're not thinking about high school, college

careers and friends and breakups and boys or girls or just partners

and the long, long road ahead.

They're just thinking about what snack they'll have when they get home

which drawing to show mommy first

if daddy will play that game again.

They're proud and honest.

Baby birds

in the safety of their nests.

I want them to stay like that.