If I Were A Boy
then people would not comment on the color
of my clothes.
Red is too provocative,
Yellow is only for the spring, and Black
should only be worn at funerals.
Way to kill the mood.
If I were a boy,
then I would not be expected to
bite
my tongue.
Don’t you know that a Smile is an assumed part of the dress code?
Good girls are polite;
they’re sweet and well-behaved.
Quiet.
Don’t be so emotional.
If I were a boy,
then the most important number on the scale
would be my GPA,
not how much I weigh.
Being strong
is a physical achievement for men
and an emotional requirement for women.
But they don’t understand the weight I carry
that no one can see but
me.
The invisible weight that they
have placed on my shoulders
that never goes
away.
They don’t understand
how the weight
crushes
me, breaking
my back
and my soul.
They don’t understand
how it suffocates me,
tightening around my neck and
forcing unwanted tears
to pour out of my bloodshot eyes.
How everyday it only gets tighter
and tighter
and
I can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe
I can’t breathe
I can’t
Ataraxia
A soft hand rests on the curve of my back.
I gaze up, misty eyes clouding the reflection
of her gentle smile.
Ataraxia
I gasp,
feeling the pressure slowly lift from my chest.
I greedily take in desperate puffs of sweet air,
the fog finally clearing from my muddled mind.
Ataraxia
I look up at her again,
this angel sent down from the heavens to save my life,
and I realize
She's me.
About the Author:
Nicole Orejuela (she/her/hers) is a 20-year-old undergraduate junior from
Brookfield, Wisconsin studying psychology at Northwestern University. An ardent
writer since elementary school, Nicole won her first writing contest in the
4th-grade for her essay on the Peel Mansion Foundation. Since this early accolade,
Nicole’s love for writing and storytelling has only grown as she’s progressed in her
academic career, evidenced through leadership roles such as serving as an
Editor-in-Chief for her high school newspaper. When she’s not drinking too much
coffee at a local café or reading a new psychological thriller novel, Nicole enjoys
creating new literary pieces in the form of short stories and poetry and hopes to one
day publish a book.