Smile, shut up and be pretty

I’m pretty like a cactus

it was love at first sight.

One badass recognizing

another badass.

Dirty knees.

Grass all over.

Arm in arm.

That was us.

But now?

Now here we are

back to back.

I look like crap without makeup.”

And you know: Boys will be boys

Girls are not supposed

to answer back.

Girls are meant to smile, shut up

and be pretty while doing it.

UGLY GIRLS
The next day everybody is talking about our list.
The whole school has seen it.
I get lots of high fives from girls.
Even from girls I don’t know.
Girls whom I thought
sided with The Trumps.
Those girls actually exist.
Jason and Theo are angry.
They try to act cool
but they hate us.
I can see it in their eyes.
It’s a bit odd, actually.
Our list is not
exactly insulting.
But to them it is.
Girls are not supposed
to answer back.
Girls are meant to smile, shut up
and be pretty while doing it.
Later the same day
everybody in class
receives

Boys will be boys?

Is that even something

people still say?

I thought that cliché had died.

In 1955.

Hey! What if we stop
getting all dressed up?
If we lose the tight
and low-cut clothes.
And the makeup and fancy hair
and walk out into the world the way we really are?
Wearing comfy clothes that don’t torture us.”

He’s a mama’s boy in a suit

Mind your language