Don’t say don’t be a girl
If by a girl you mean a flower you want to fossilize
Don’t say don’t be a girl
If by a girl you mean a doe-eyed deer
Don’t say don’t be a Sleeping Beauty
If by a Sleeping Beauty you mean a quiet bag
Don’t say don’t be a Goldilocks
If by a Goldilocks you mean pinched-up and unsatisfied
With her position in the Milky Way
Don’t say don’t be a girl
Because you want a girl to be ragged
And lacking a crown
Don’t say don’t be a girl
Because the girl I am
Didn’t cross the evolutionary
Bridge to favor a sword of steel
Over a sword of flesh.
Hannah Calkin was born and raised in South Portland, Maine. She recently graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a B.F.A. in Creative Writing and was awarded the 2018 Creative Writing Award for excellence by the faculty. Her work can be found in the Sandy River Review and The River. Her first book of poetry, Pomegranate Odyssey, will be available from Unsolicited Press in August 2019.
