Monday 29 October 2018


What Little Girls Are Made Of

by Christine Elizabeth Ray


she had always been puzzled
by the idea that little girls
were made of sugar
and spice
and everything nice
in her experience
that’s not what
little girls
were made of at all

the mean girls smelled
like cruelty mixed with uncertainty
disdain peppered with insecurity
ravenous hunger and envy

some girls smelled like
saccharine sweetness
and copper wire
wound too tight
always trying to please
to be liked
to be popular

others just wanted
to fly under the radar
to escape the notice
of mean girls who torment
of chameleon girls who offered
friendship only to shun them
the moment the mean girls
or a boy
beckoned

she was a different
kind of girl
the quiet, watchful kind
she had ageless wisdom
in her heart
steel in her spine
fire in her blood
and patience
her time would come

there weren’t many
girls like her
but when they brushed
past each other
in school hallways
or crowded streets
the recognition
was like lightning
eyes would meet boldly
and they would smile
the secret smiles
of their kind


* * * * *

© 2017 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All Rights Reserved


Christine Elizabeth Ray is an indie author and freelance editor who lives outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the creator of the blog Brave and Reckless and Managing Editor of The Sudden Denouement Literary Collective (Blood Into InkSudden DenouementSudden Denouement Publishing, & Whisper and the Roar) as well as Indie Blu(e) Her writing has been featured on SpillWords, fēlan poetry & visual zine, Nicholas Gagnier’s Swear to Me (2017), and his upcoming collection, All the Lonely People. Christine’s first book of poetry, Composition of a Woman, was published by Sudden Denouement Publishing in July of 2018. Her second book of poetry, The Myths of Girlhood, is scheduled for release later this year.

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