We Are The Girls

We are the girls with anxiety disorders, the ones who live

With our hearts on our sleeves, which often brings us trouble.

We are the girls with full planners and no room for nonsense,

The ones who fear rejection, but always put ourselves out on the line. 

We are the girls with depression, the ones with scars on our arms, and on our hearts.

We are the girls who love hard and fast, not realizing the consequences

Until the time has passed for backing out. 

The ones who stay up way too late studying for the big final tomorrow,

And then loading ourselves up with coffee on the way to class. 

We are the girls who were abused, and still sleep with stuffed animals

Because they’re the only real comfort we’ve ever truly had. 

We are the girls whose aspirations are far up in the clouds, 

The ones that are intelligent enough to create a rocketship to bring us there.  

We are the girls you’ll find in the back of the library, 

Reading some book on quantum mechanics, trying to figure out the universe. 

We are the girls who are lost, yet still try to help others. 

We are the girls who defy all odds, 

Asking questions that no one had dared to ask before.

We are the girls who watched housewives be praised, and working women berated. 

We are the girls with attitudes as large as a man’s, 

Because to win their game, you have to be a piece on the board. 

We will not be a mere pawn, rather we will become a queen: the most powerful piece. 

We never want to be as passive as our mothers,

Or marry men as dull as our fathers. 

We are the girls, the daughters of the feminists who were told they could be anything.

And when our mothers told us that, we heard, “You must be everything.”