On Girlhood

opening your heart to pour out a poem
is one of the boldest ways of survival girl
knows. without this golden steam, lending
a dull sound to her bones, girl would have
turned silent a decade ago.

in one scenario girl never gets to figure
out what is wrong with her in the first
place. all that’s left instead are the
feverish dreams of july afternoons
where alleyways stretch over her body
in patterns unknown to human skin.

in another scenario, were more truth has
been spoken than girl had ever
encountered, she spilled the triumphant
aches hiding between her shoulder blades
in this scenario, she stays. and speaks.

here, the sun shines in her dreams and
girl doesn’t want to die like she does on
bad days. she wants to see if she’ll be
able to overcome the next bad day. girl
likes torture, her father is the one in
sheep’s clothing, but at least she’s there.

there to witness her voice being stripped
of credibility, and – at times even the
storyteller seems at loss. apple trees
have lost their innocence and seeing her
irises’ color makes girl scream. but she’s
there, and after all, speaks poetry.

By Alwina Hermann

Biography:

Alwina Hermann is a seventeen year old girl, currently residing in Europe, who has a strong love for words, linguistics and, unsurprisingly, cats. Most of her works center around trauma, because that’s all she can write about. She’s a strong believer in the kind and soft. You can find her on tumblr (@ohmoonkid).