"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.