Brave Girl: A Short Poem

By: Sarah I. Saiyed ​

You, Brave girl/ bulletin board for a body/ thumb-tacked thumb prints of strange men tracing your skin/
You, Brave girl/ who calls them scars/ until they scab over with worse things.
You, Brave girl/ wash your hands with dish soap/ more plate than person/ let them bite and chew/ on parts of you/ too bitter to be sweet.
You, Brave girl/ wolf-child/ animal woman/ when they call your anger a call for blood/ sink your teeth in their flesh/ fire calls for fire/ so, burn/ like every woman ever lit on a pyre for being beautiful.
You, Brave girl/ watch them bleed/ see the iron and metal coursing through their veins/ more machine than men.
You, Brave girl/ savage being/ history like a bedrock from oppression/ pay attention/ they drag knives against your palm/ teach you what blood is made of/ but you, brave girl/ already know what it means to bleed, don’t you?
You, Brave girl/ listen to their rules/ rattle the chains/ jagged nails claw numbers against the concrete walls/ they wanted to teach you a lesson/ so learn rebellion like a second language
You, Brave girl/ want to be called a woman/ your tongue nailed to the roof of your mouth/ rinse your throat of all the things you didn’t say/ it takes courage to scream like that.
You, Brave girl/ watch/ they carve into your legs/ arrows to what parts of you they will hurt first/ but you already know don’t you? / you have hurt this body too.
You, Brave girl/ silly child/ how long before you understand/ you are not meant to survive/ live anyway.
You, Brave girl/ there is nothing braver than daring to be alive.