What a wonderful thing to be a woman
What a beautiful, tragic, joyful, heartbreaking thing
Womanhood
Girlhood
In its all-encompassing nature
The high white socks with the frilly tops
Mary Janes
Easter dresses
Polaroids with your sisters
The rough and tumble
Hot Wheels in the mud at recess
With the boys
The blood
In your underwear
And seeping from the scrapes in your knees
The blocking soccer goals with your arms
Bruised up
Laced up
Borrowing eyeliner from your friend
And smearing the black in your waterline
Before it ever ran because of a boy
The bathroom trips together
Just to giggle and admire ourselves
Before we learned that each of us
Is a shield for the other
So strong,
Unbreakable
Even when the cracks start to look
Like a shattered mirror
The shared headphones
Singing together
The headphones in with no
Music playing
The body-hugging dress
Show off my hips
Shake my ass
Look how sexy I am
The sneakers and denim
The college sweater
The hair tie on my wrist
I would gladly give to you
Even when they try to pit us
Against one another
When he cheats but I blame her
Compare myself to her
To you
When we should’ve locked arms
Held hands
Shame, shame, shame
We aren’t here to play games
The telling stories
Ones we write, ones that are true
The laughing until we cry
Staying up all night
Passing the popcorn
Fingers drawing through each other’s hair
As we twist and braid
The texts that are novels
Or short stories sent in rapid succession
The Facetime calls
The “tell me if this looks good” shopping sprees
The brutal honesty
The friendly white lies
Because we know we’ve all had our
Hearts broken too many times
The putting your friend’s tampon
In for her for the first time
The endless hours spent shaving
Our whole bodies
The hours saved when we decide to forego
It for a while
The miniskirt in winter
Cuz a ho never gets cold
The getting what we want
Then realizing we didn’t want it after all
The screaming in a mic
Fighting your little brother’s bully
In the bus loop
Cussing out the assholes
Carrying pepper spray
Carrying a knife
The “don’t fuck with me” look
The late nights reading poetry
Writing poetry
Keeping the houseplants alive
Cooking a meal from scratch
All of the pink
All of the black
Protecting your girls
Loving your girls
What a wonderful thing to be a woman
What a wonderful thing to be a girl

Naomi Hurley is a writer, musician, and yoga instructor living in Southern Maryland. She is currently working in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation field, teaching yoga, meditation, and mindfulness at various in-patient treatment centers. You can find Naomi on Instagram