Time's Up

Stop lurking around

I'm not your sacrificial bird

with beaks as smooth as

your locked up words

I'm not your pencil on paper

writing me down as a number

getting lost in the winds of

a thousand careless whispers

Or your paintbrush on canvas

where I'm all the color and you can use me as you please

and claim I was just waiting

to be painted

Don't look at me like

you're starving

Because I know my mother's mother

held her breath and bit her tongue

while you caressed her body with

unwanted words

Because I know my mother cried

and told you to keep your hands off her waist

but you smiled like molasses

and told her she shouldn't be ashamed to be

pretty

So we're pretty

Pretty faces on pretty dolls in pretty cases

for your dirty hands and filthy words

and deep silent scars

We're pretty

And we'll sit and wait

because we weren't simply being polite

when we met your eye

and smiled

We were inviting you

into us

How could we tell any different?

we're pretty

But my voice is louder than the

colors of the setting sun

And I'm in the sky with a thousand other stars right now

shining brighter than ever before

we're beautiful

explosive

indestructible