" Like A Girl " Poem by e loi

"Like a Girl"

"Run like a girl, " they said.
And without a doubt,
We would flail our arms around,
Throw our legs backward like a chicken,
Head bobbling around like a toy.

"Fight like a girl, " they said.
And again, without a doubt,
We would start flapping our arms like wings,
Putting no force, no strength, no effort into "fighting, "
Scratching the air like a frenzied cat.

But I know what it's truly like to run, to fight like a girl.

I run from expectations of "a girl, "
To be folded in,
To stay soft, silent, and small.
To laugh politely, not too loud,
To cross my legs and lower my gaze.
They say it's proper, it's ladylike,
But all I hear is to be less.

I run from the stares that slice,
The whispers that weigh me down.
"Stop wearing too much makeup, " they sneer,
"Be natural."
Yet when I bare my skin, stripped and real,
They flinch, "You look tired. You look wrong."

That's what it means to run like a girl,
To sprint through double standards,
dodging every word that tries to cage you.
To run, not in fear,
But in defiance, feet pounding freedom into the earth.

And I fight like a girl.
I fight the mirror when it reflects what the world tells me I should be.
I fight the voices that measure worth in inches, in glances, in silence.
I fight for space, for choice, for me.

I bleed, but I do not break.
I fall, but I rise sharper than before.
Because fighting like a girl
means standing your ground
when the world tries to knock you down,
and still finding the strength to smile.

So yes,
I run like a girl.
I fight like a girl.
And if that makes me too much,
then so be it.
Because girls like me
were never meant to be small.