Born With Pain Built In by Emily Haywood

Bloody scrapes and bloody knickers.

Cramps, nausea and dizzy spells.

No food or too much food.

Beauty comes from within

But pain is beauty.

Burns off the curling iron,

Bruised knuckles and angry tears.

Training bras, waists sculptures,

Shapewear and slips.

You have to love yourself

But not too much.

Our bodies go in and

Out of fashion

Faster than trends do.

Face lifts, check injections.

Fit in, don’t fit in.

God forbid you can

Be over a certain size!

People expect so much

From us, before we’re born.

We don’t get to enjoy the

Small things before people

Place gender stereotypes on us.

We’ve got to be fighters,

Revolutionaries, activists.

Who’s going to fight for us

If we can’t.