Those legs were long and lean and bounced as high as a gazelle escaping a lioness jaw
You ran hard and long and tripped through the weeds only briefly stopping to see how bad the bleed was; no need to cry
Your favorite part was the smell of coconut oil and the crazy way your strong brown legs drank it in on a hot summer’s day
You liked how you looked, you liked how you felt
You soaked it all in; the wind, the air, the sun, the sky, the water, the sand, and the soft brown of the hammer you swung in the green woods
You were light and lithe hoping and believing that the days of freedom and athleticism would never end
The swimming, skipping, racing to do more, be better and grow stronger; you were a competitor
You did it
You made it
You beat the odds of selection, of disease and of disaster
You’re a winner!
Now…
Your kinky free flying hair has been smoothed and flattened
Your brown skin has faded from avoiding the sun
Your unabashed ambition has been pushed back between the lines
The pantyhose feels like a noose
The bra feels like a vice …and so the contortions of compliance begin
The words start to appear
Silly, goofy girl
You’re soooo pretty and here are some ideas to make you even more attractive!
Now, please, don’t take this wrong, my words are coming from pure kindness
You talk too much and I’m glad you’re so pretty because we all know how you are with math
Dream on, silly one — you should sell cars, that way you can model them for rich male clients– no wait, you should sell cosmetics, that way you can model them for rich female clients
Now shock waves of stabbing pain grip your feet, your neck, and your back
In the darkness an eerily bent tree creates the shape of a character you don’t know
You have two choices; you can walk past it and be assured it was all a bad dream or you can avoid it and never know the truth
The truth
You are stronger than you know
You are smarter than they tell you
You are craftier, cleverer, and more creative than they will ever recognize
The truth: the wild energy of a girl child becomes the wicked talent of a woman
You too?