Untitled

Untitled

Be skinny. Be pretty. Be quiet. 
Painted doll lips coated in silence. 
Hollow bodies brimming with thoughts
That I will never be given credit for.

Eyes down, flies down, we all drown. 
Isn’t it funny that mermaids are so popular?
Women can’t speak underwater.
What kind of world is this for me?
What will it be for my daughter?

We watch our fathers lock their feelings in cages, 
Watch our brothers learn online that to hurt is to love, 
Watch our mothers go on diet after diet after diet. 
Forever learning, desperately unlearning the same message:
Be skinny. Be pretty. Be quiet.

Robyn Barclay

Untitled

Be skinny. Be pretty. Be quiet. 
Painted doll lips coated in silence. 
Hollow bodies brimming with thoughts
That I will never be given credit for.

Eyes down, flies down, we all drown. 
Isn’t it funny that mermaids are so popular?
Women can’t speak underwater.
What kind of world is this for me?
What will it be for my daughter?

We watch our fathers lock their feelings in cages, 
Watch our brothers learn online that to hurt is to love, 
Watch our mothers go on diet after diet after diet. 
Forever learning, desperately unlearning the same message:
Be skinny. Be pretty. Be quiet.

Robyn Barclay