Ever since I was 13,
I've changed the pronouns in
my poems from her
to him.
It was an edit that just had to
be made, as simple
and quick as changing 'your'
to 'you're' in places it
didn't belong.
Because like those words,
I had convinced myself that
she just didn't belong,
and that for society to accept me,
he was a necessary fix.
But not anymore.
Now, I will toss around she
and her and hers all throughout
my poems like splattered paint,
I will cross out all the he's
as if I were murdering the person
I once was -- a person who
was too focused on not being
judged rather than being herself.
And there is absolutely
no one on the face of the planet
that can stop me.
(a.l.m)