Girlhood

Pretty doll with your hair
perfectly coiffed,
eyelashes
slowly batting
as I tilt you forward,
I want to drag you
through the mud
and brambles
so you look like me.

By Alexis Bates

Biography:

Alexis Bates, 18, is an upstart poet and writer living in Baltimore, MD. Her poems force us to reflect on how we relate to topics such as self-perception, broken hearts, and mental illness. Her work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Doll Hospital, Transcending Shadows, 308 Words, and others.