#LITTLEGIRL

They have bound her to magazine covers

Botox needle in hand

The history books have written the rules here

With words to make giants out of men

She has been left with soccer games and supermarket trips

Uterus placed on sale

For years when the skirts were sewn tight and shoes tighter

A chance for Flight but never to Fight

So she starved herself until she could fly

Consuming only clouds

Watching the world through photo-shopped eyes

As dolls walk on runways- with bodies for a contract

She has seen the tears wash away the red of a coat hanger death, with the mother being lost instead

Because doctors were forced to step away

As he stepped across her skin leaving FREE labeling the back of her neck

She has felt the burns left by stares tracing her silhouette

There was no love in his hands

Across the world there are girls too afraid to call their families home

Begging their fathers and brothers to believe that the blood that they see is only from a paper cut

With birthday parties being arranged as weddings

For your sweet 16 you get a husband my dear

There are mothers in jail

Bellies behind bars- wondering if they will ever get to lay eyes on their child outside of their own skin

There are women hiding, fighting and waiting to be found behind locked doors and homes that were never their own

There are girls being shot with their mind as the target

He tells her that delicate is in her DNA

And mood swings will always determine who will get a pay raise

So Stick to your soap operas little girl

Keep swallowing that pill for desert, or have you already washed away the taste of sanity

Watch where you walk-step over the hopscotch with life turning into a game of tag be careful not to get lost in the traffic

Mutilation may not be a safety precaution practiced here my dear- but baby stay safe

Always travel to the bathroom in pairs

Keep your people close and be sure to stay quiet if your husband is drunk at home

Welcome to the red white and blue we stand proud in the top ten most dangerous places for women

So take your ration of words now-as he tells you that he does not know how long it will take to lie leveled in the stars

Because time will always float by in the shape of an hour glass as they mold our bodies- but little girl remember that they will never get inside of your mind

So walk with us hand in hand

Sending voices overseas

A group of eccentric

We are women

Conquerors made and in the making

Faces of freckles and untouched eyebrows

Hips and lips with opinions

There is joy in our feet

So little girl come and learn to tap-dance on the stars because we will land above their clouds

We will finally reach the sun

Together we will grow and thrive

So little boys make way, it is her time to rise

by Lianna Maley