girls were willing to destroy themselves
for an idea that they couldn’t afford
*
someone had made me older than I was
and it was my duty to make myself look older
and young at the same time
and keep it that way always
*
girls were escorted en masse into a trap
turned into dolls that would bite each other’s heads off
for the pleasure of their onlookers
*
boys grew older on their cheap seats
girls decayed from the spotlight to the sidelines
discarded and substituted
*
the rot had worked itself into everyday language
casual, unapologetic, invisible, subtle, pretentious
pornography projected onto my skin, misread, unseen
*
told that I’m here to keep men’s attention
embody what they fantasise about
treat women like men treat women
told that I’m here to read men’s minds and desires
and rid myself of my own
Croque-Melpomene 