By Ilana Drake

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This piece combines coming-of-age with American politics around reproductive rights.

you judge her
if her mouth
moves
or if she
keeps her
lips pursed

you slyly
comment
about her
shirt
and
you say
she looks
“easy”

and you just
continue to
label her
with words

you joke
with your
friends
about her
rating
and if
she is
a “perfect ten”

and she knows
her body is a cage
because the rules
of being a teenage girl
are never spoken aloud
but so well-known

because she must not
raise her voice
but hell is coming

and the voice must
not be too loud
because loud is
impolite

and then
she will
disappear
into words
that feel
like daggers
when
whispered
out loud

and you
do not
notice the
way your
adjectives
to describe
her are
echoed
by your friends,
in the media,
and in
the courtroom

because her body is a cage.

Process

I focused on the distinction between the “you” and “her,” which allows the reader to understand society’s impact on the young woman described. Specifically, the examples of sexism and misogyny mentioned in the poem are ones which harm the young woman’s image of herself. Furthermore, I focused on the culture in settings beyond school, such as pop culture and politics. This was originally published in the Wild Thyme Literary.