The first sign of womanhood isn’t buds
To breasts,
Or the red staining your inner thighs
Like the drip of grenadine cherries,
But when you spot one, two,
Lines under your eyes
The dusting of ash
Over the smear of mulberry
Blood vessels sighing in exhaustion,
Because you know you are a woman
When you are kept all day
With another’s dependency,
Emotional and physical
Either or both draining away from your life
And when you crash down to your pillow sniffing sheets,
Muscles unfolding the origami of today’s worries
But trust me when I say: you’ll get no sleep
Your mind has only just begun
Translating last years memories
Into bitten pieces of nails and shredded cuticles
Eyes staring into the abyss of shadow
Created by the fold of your comforter
You question yourself:
The fork in the road’s at the end of your hair
Was it worth it to send them away?
The new dimple in your bloated thighs
When will you have your glow up?
You need a new eyeshadow pallet, yours is shattered
What have you even accomplished?
Your bank account resembles the potted plant on your mahogany desk
Who even loves you?
Definitely need to start eating more fruit
When was the last time you plucked your eyebrows?
Thirty than fifty than a hundred and twenty-seven minutes
Fly from the clock
And you’ll never get them back and that scares you
But after this night of torture
That you forced on yourself
You have passed the test
Submerged in exhaustion and the finest of lines under
Your bent lashes,
Welcome to the rest of your life as a
Woman.