The judgments, the pretensions
The absence of knowledge leading to stronger perceptions
He says I should do this, she says I should do that, they say that this is what I need to
I don’t need to do anything except spend my day like I like too
I lost myself when I left you behind
I lost myself when I left myself behind
Who knew the challenge of being a woman? Of always climbing the ladder through a man?
The men will be your shoulders, your ladders, your rungs
Then they will be your prisoners, your should-do tellers, your unformed opinions,
When he let me fly, he let me free
Then he promised to only support me
Why then he chains me, binds me
Only his opinions surround me
Can a woman never be truly free? Should she always be validated
from her father, her boyfriend, her all to-be’s
Only you don’t exist.
I am a person, not your opinion
I am a human, not your judgement
Your phones might help but its never the solution. It’s me
If I refuse to become, the challenge laughs at me
Each day I fly into uncharted territory
Every new endeavor is a war to be waged
Lightly or ferociously
Pleasantly or cunningly
I am me, not any other’s version of me, not any other’s expectation of me
I am a constant struggle in a man’s world
I am a woman
I am not my profile pictures, I am not my habits
I am neither the way I file my taxes
I am not my cousin, I am not how I cook
I am neither the way my tattoo looks
I am not my burn-scars, I am not my weight
I am neither my marriageable age
I might be my parents’ reflection and of everybody else who raised me
After all, reflections are always reversed to reality
My left your right
My side always opposite to your side
I am all of this but concurrently none of these. I am me
Please, please, let me be