Girls Come Of Age, Too

This latest coming-of-age

film I’ve watched

is beautiful & poignant,

like the others,

but I want to see

stories about girls

up there on the screen.

Real girls, not mean girls.

Not pink-sparkly girls,

or crazy girls or princesses.

Just regular girls

doing ordinary kid things:

traipsing woods, fishing,

sharing secrets, swearing

allegiance, running away,

facing mortality, being hurt,

learning Big Life Lessons.

Why is that so hard to imagine?

I find it surprisingly difficult to write a protest poem in the spirit of Woody Guthrie for Susie’s prompt to the Real Toads. I revere Woody Guthrie (no surprise) and comparatively, this feels less than poetic. But this is something that’s been on my mind and I feel somewhat alone in my aggravation about it. So, here it is. #24 of 30 Poems In November to benefit Center for New Americans!