Too
I am the dreaded
independent woman.
The one who's perpetually single,
too smart, too pretty, too fat, too skinny -
too-TOO
for most men.
That strong woman
who bought into the feminist ideal:
You, too, can have it all.
Except that here, in the quarterlife,
I'm struggling to find that.
Throw in this brown skin,
la mancha de plátano,
the crisis of the second generation.
I am too-TOO.
Too Latina, too American, too young, too old -
too picky.
I am that complete package:
beauty, brains, heart.
That's what they tell me.
They say "you could have anyone",
and they all fall.
But when I fall,
they say I sell myself short.
There's this:
sometimes that independent woman,
that strong woman,
that too-TOO woman,
needs a moment,
a series of moments,
to be like the rest:
to be a girl.
To fall carelessly and wrecklessly,
to doodle hearts in the margins,
to dream of weddings on a beach,
and to forget for a moment
everything that she's had
to build up and fight for
alone.
But when you're that woman
too tough, too strong, too hard -
everyone's watching.
*edited slightly already....
3 comments:
"doodle hearts in the margins" so great. i'm not from where you are but i feel you. i think this means you wrote a good poem. :)
Thanks. I was kind of (ha! understatement of the year) afraid to post this, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
frances, i'm glad that you were NOT too afraid to post this. i pray that God will give you the desires of your heart!
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