POETRY
I Am But a Woman
Trying to figure what it takes to be a ‘good one’
I wanted them to stop
looking at me like I wanted
their eyes on me,
like I was hungry for crowds
and validation,
like they wanted me in their
beds.
I covered myself.
They still scanned my body
head to toe,
opening their hearts and
car doors for me,
they wanted me over for
dinners now,
show me off to their mothers
and wife me.
For I’m only to be treated
with respect when I match
their standards of ‘a good woman’.
I shall live and laugh and dance
with all the freedom I’m ‘granted’
but not too much,
for I am but a woman,
and only the ‘good ones’
are seldom treated as
humans.
