Poem by Adira Bennett

 

Dear Girl-child (inspired by Tupelo Hassman)

Girl-child, you are not fruit.

You are not cherry or peach

or apple of Eden, apple of eye.

You are not nymph, fairy,

witch, weapon, or bull’s eye.

The melted plastic reflections

of you/me/us are draped across

building sides and billboards

poreless, silken, sexy aliens;

glossy airplane models of the

shamefully secret woman-creature

but Girl-child, you are not

a reflection. You are not an airplane

model or a secret. You are not metaphor,

simile, feast, or trinket.

You are not what, you are who,

you are you, you are your wilderness,

you are your moonlight and your mistakes,

you are whole, you are beautiful, forget

pink, you are red. Girl-child, God

never wants to lose sight of you.

She marked your genes with Xs

so She can treasure you every day.

 

 

 

Adira Bennett (pen name of E.K.) is an independent artist and writer living in New York City. Her work focuses on feminism, trauma, illness, and healing. Her art and/or writing have been published byPersephone’s Daughters,Lotus Magazine, andThe America Library of Poetry,and she was the recipient of a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national gold medal for her poetry collectionBittersweet Englishin 2013. Adira currently works in a forensic biology research laboratory and hopes to have one day petted every dog in the world. To see more of her work or contact her directly, please visit her blogadirabennett.tumblr.comor email her at[email protected].