the love in my life is spectacular
I owe so much of my wisdom to women,
who've been there in times of debilitating darkness
and other times, in joy and in light.
First there was Angel whose name says it all.
She was dream-oriented, a dancer.
there was a time where we lived thick as thieves.
calling each other after school to explain, over landlines,
something ridiculous that happened on the walk home that day.
we grew into women because we wanted to find ourselves.
traveled in different crowds, grew apart, and after,
went our separate ways - still, we thought of one another.
Later, something didn't work and I may wonder what forever.
Enter Mary, sweet as pie with cherries decorating her shoes.
with a badminton net between us, forfeit turns into friendship one afternoon.
oh the fun we'd start and the pranks we'd play on kids our age,
or even older; all the boys would love her smile, and
driving around, playing games, breaking hearts,
listening to shitty bands play in cramped community halls.
or the time in front of her house with the Mentos and a 2-litre of Pepsi.
becoming a woman was colourful and dramatic and weird,
Until, something felt too weird and suddenly no longer existed.
Welcome Lauren, fresh off the break-up row.
college lectures and late nights couldn't slow us down, so
when a homeless man started jacking off on the sidewalk beside us
it wasn't out of the ordinary, it just was. And we screamed.
even warning another woman that night to be careful, walking alone.
knowing full well our childhoods were not at all similar, we'd argue about the way we'd let men treat us.
making up by getting dressed for the club with Kim Crawford, but
when we fell out the only thing we were left covered in was dog hair.
pretending we were lovers who smoked and swore like truck drivers.
All these women loved me,
so I too loved them -
And I owe it to them.
Happy Women's Day.
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