Girlhood

• Zoe Richards, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2022

I want to tell all my best friends they’re so pretty,
and not just because they tell me.
A new urge that comes with girlhood,
is to compliment when they smile with their teeth,
and tell them they’re boobs look so good,
in that new bra that you bought –
so that you know not all compliments are sex-based,
to unlearn the hate that they taught.
We tell each other we’re so gorgeous,
so perfect and bright and fun,
so that when they come with torches,
their words won’t make us undone.
We fight our forced maturity,
with linked arms and big grins –
and we maintain our girlish purity
while you pick us for our skins.