Teenage Girlhood

Being a teenage girl is like

Playing punk rock on a grand piano

With your

Damaged hair (bleach on your head bleach on your clothes bleach in your gut) and red lipstick,

Complementing the glitter in your bloodstream

Like the desire in your aching heart,

Like the lights you don’t stop for,

Like the cigarettes you treat like sticks of bubblegum

(As if hoarding the aftertaste of smoke in your lungs will bring back

Your virginity,

Your hair,

Your sanity)

Then wonder why you can’t breathe

(They misinterpret

Your carelessness,

Your mental health,

Your relationship status

Your way of life

As a political statement)