Poetry Corner

This is the second poem I shared during the Poetry Walk reading. I wrote this in 2019, when I first started to seriously consider publishing my poetry for the first time.

Pink

Pink was my favorite color
until I turned eight
and the boys made it clear that
pink meant
weakness
              Pink was Girly
              and Girly was
              contemptible.
So I renounced the color
and all it stood for
and became a Tomboy.
It wasn’t as good as
being a real boy,
but it was acceptable.
I fell into the lie that
I wasn’t like Other Girls,
dramatic and vapid and
obsessed with my looks.
              I didn’t know any girls like this
              but apparently they just weren’t
              Other Girls either.
I learned that I liked
football and swordfights,
pirates and pioneers,
and that those things are incompatible
with pink.
                I learned that I liked
                flowers and poetry,
                kittens and cooking,
                and that I could only enjoy them with
                Mom or Grandma.
I learned that I had to be stronger than,
smarter than,
better than
if I was going to be
anything at all.
I learned that I had to
speak up
              but not over him
dress up
              to his liking
make up
              when he was wrong
give up
              if he wanted it
shut up
              when he spoke
grow up
on my own experiences
and the drive of the women before me
who had learned that Other Girls
were just as tired as I was
of pretending they didn’t
like pink.