- Julia Ferreira
"WE ARE WOMEN"
A poem by Julia Ferreira.
She is a beautiful baby girl
Of blue eyes and mundane brown hair
Wrinkled palms, fingers no bigger than a baby carrot
Born into this existence with defence up her sleeve
A proper collar, head up
The attention span of a dove
Protect yourself from those who rise in front of you
Grow a thick skin, thicker
Stand taller than the man next to the shoulder
Forgive yourself of a smirk
Straight faces, clean and adjusted
Should you conduct yourself as everything you were born not to be
He holds the power, they enforce
Allow me to walk home
I long for the warmth of my father
This soul played with dollies
Wind up cars and let me envision the sun
I request freedom from guilt
I am juvenile
This straitjacket of raw alignment
We will grow strong, we grow through fear
We endure the depths of yesterday's lost son
Tomorrows hurting mother
We are the blood that brings this world forth
The uncertainty of our sisters presence
We are vulnerable to the birth of child
Our bodies shared within this beautiful womb
The veins of blue, the pain
The innocence and sacrifice that none other could make
Strength and dignity
Almost unexplainable
We are women
Julia Ferreira attends Algoma University, majoring in Business Administration and Human Resources. She previously attended Journalism studies at the University of Ottawa. Julia grew up in Northern Ontario. Her writing inspiration comes primarily from memory, and the processes of growing up.