Don’t crush your flower
With those stilettos
Stepping on every petal,
Your attitude crashing in all your strides
Leaving a foul stench
Don’t pierce your beauty
with all those holes
you have on your body.
Your femininity will pour out
Into that empty brain of yours
And return as tears
The only thing you women are good for
Don’t stain your elegance
With those black scribbles you have
On your weak and vulnerable body.
These lines will chain you up
Leaving you with nothing you can do
Making you even more useless than you are
Don’t wear that.
You are a painting for your husband
And your husband only
You will be kept behind the red curtains
And never be showcased
Don’t walk as if you rule the world
Every step you take is in vain
And will never be recognized
Validation is a cruel word.
It covers me like a hoodie I’m demanded to use
When I look like a slut.
Baltimore Beat is running poems from participants in the group Writers in Baltimore Schools, which offers programming that builds skills in literacy and communication while creating a community of support for young writers.