you took many moons from me,
and i lived in fear and shame;
locked myself up tight because
i didn’t know who i could trust—
we were both children,
but you opened my eyes to how
unsafe the world truly was;
stripped me of a bit of my innocence
when you tried to take what you
thought you were owed—
i’ve never understood why a woman’s
no means less than the yes
of a man,
why our voices get washed away
like sand on the shore;
i’ll never understand why women are the
one’s that bear all the responsibility of
protecting themselves—
instead of telling girls what to wear,
maybe teach boys the concept of consent
and to respect women;
for those of you that must know
i was wearing a t-shirt and matching pants
that went down to my ankles, socks, and a pair of sneakers—
what girls and women wear isn’t the issue,
the issue is that people think they deserve the right to
control others.
