Aerie - FHS Literary and Art Magazine EQUINOX - Spring 2017 - Volume 12 | Page 27

Hi, I’m a feminist

A creature incapable of understanding

The basic rules

That have been standing

For thousands of years.

My job, as a woman, is to serve others

Who generally don’t deserve a second of my time

Hi, I’m a feminist

And as a result of my faulty views of equality,

I’m endangering the tranquility of the patriarchy,

And ruining the views of other girls,

Who’d otherwise see their bodies as drive-thrus

For men to stop through

When they get hungry

Hi, I’m a feminist

And i fight for a useless cause

One’s whose purpose is to disservice all the hard working men

In favor of their wordless women

Ripping them of their natural born right

By letting women write

Of what's right and wrong

And stealing their power

Making them sour

When their women no longer cower

Beneath their towering frames

Hi, I’m a feminist

And i fight for the 14.2 million child brides married off annually,

in this culture of insanity

That hears feminism

And gouges out the equality

And highlights superiority

Hi, I’m a feminist

And i’m here for the girls

The girls that are cat-called

And stared down by heavy eyes

Weighed with a look that they despise

And treated like a prize

Because whenever i hear ‘trophy wife’

I can only think of mannequin girls

Leashed with pearls

Showed off to friends and bloodline

Only to be forgotten on a shelf when they’ve lost their shine

And i’m here for every girl

That’s ever heard anyone say

‘You run-throw-kick-or fight like a girl’

Because that’s right

I punch like a girl

And you better start taking notes

Or you’ll fall behind

Hi, I’m a feminist

And i’m here for the boys too

The boys shamed for being ‘too feminine’

Or being a ‘pretty boy’

And i’m here for the boys who’ve been told,

With their eyes blurry,

That they can’t cry

Because its too girly

As if being a ‘girl’ equates

To giggling at dates

And simply seeking a mate

Our fate restricted

By the curves of our birthing hips

And the lightning harbored in our lips

Everyone wanting a sip

Of our electricity in a kiss

That pours and pours and pours until there is nothing left

Because being a girl equates to being used

An idea infused from infancy that weakness

Is of liquid consistency,

Found in the red of our faulty veins

An idea that injects itself into our DNA

One of which I object to

In favor of that blurry eyed boy

Because my sex

Should never be an insult

Hi, i’m a feminist

And I scream where

I was taught silence

Because my lineage determines some of my privilege

And I happened to have pulled the short stick

Hi, i’m a feminist,

A creature incapable of understanding

The basic rules

That have been standing

For thousands of years

Because those rules are outdated

And concentrated on the inferiority associated with women

Who were then obligated to serve men.

Its the 21st century,

And I’m ready to fight for equality

Hollaback Girl

by Mykiah Carrington-Zurita, 10