Literary Art by: Cassius Klai C. Francisco
Like a Girl
By: Seraph Solana
What does it mean,
To do things like a girl?
People will tell you to read the lines in between,
People will tell you that’s just how you look at the world,
To me, it was a way to demean,
I met a girl once,
She told me she could taste words,
So we played around, kept saying what we saw around us,
Freedom, petrichor,
Happiness, sweet honey,
Fear, dripping blood,
Anger, bitter
“Like a girl,”
She winced and stuck her tongue out, “Rust,” she said
Throwing, punching, and walking like a girl,
All are actions done,
But only mean one,
That you do it weakly,
That I do it weakly,
Love, forgiveness, and warm care,
All are feelings felt,
That is only for women to bear,
If you’re a man, best your feelings are kept,
Since doing things like a girl seemed so emasculating for you to bear,
But you see,
If doing these things meant
Having restraint and bearing more than what you can,
Feeling the world around thee,
A human over a machine,
Then I’d rather be a girl – a woman – than a man,
There’s nothing more powerful
In doing things in whichever way you please,
Nothing more powerful than being full,
Of emotions
With only yourself to appease
It’s like this,
Doing things like a girl is not weak,
Get out of that mind abyss,
Because girls are stronger than you think,
We see more than what meets the eye,
We’ve been through so much,
And if you still haven’t caught that by now,
Then maybe you should try being a girl,
Try being a mom, who dedicated her life to sprouting another life,
Try being a teenage girl, whose emotions are complex and can’t seem to understand but goes on anyway,
Try being a woman in leadership, who works twice, if not thrice, as hard to be admired,
Try being a woman in the 21st century,
Who has been deprived of rights and choices,
Where the only way to fight through it,
Is like a girl
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