Learn My Name
I’m leaving the store
When I hear the shout
But I don’t look around
It’s not me it’s about
My name is not
Beautiful
You type out Pretty Girl
And wait for a reply
You start to get angry
And I wonder why
This couldn’t be mine
My name is not
Pretty girl
Then you ask
Why I’m single
As if it’s a disease
You think you’re the cure
Because you said please
But you don’t know my name
And from where I stand
You’re the disease
With all your demands
And the cure is
Our silence
So that you stop expecting
An answer to names
That we are rejecting
Not Beautiful
Or Pretty
Or Sexy, for sure
Your violence
Met with cold silence
That is our cure
We are more than
The name you so coldly assign
As if how we look
Matters more
Than our whole lives combined
We are worth more
Than a whistle
More than a shout
And a hell of a lot more
Than a hand reaching out
Uninvited
Learn our names
Use them with respect
And maybe instead of the cold shoulder
You might just find
Treating us like a human
Makes us respond to you in kind.
