How can she be a little girl

in a garden that won’t let her

as she matures into a lovely, tempting flower.

Men flock around her,

begging for a taste,

and she feels like she has all the power.

They ask to take her home,

they beg when she says no,

she has a softball game in an hour.

Mom taught her to run

From men she doesn’t know

Pepper spray decorated with flowers

She’s pretty fast, she plays for 12U,

She runs like her coach 

taught her to

yet now all she faces is embarrassment

and ridicule

the new masses of fat on her chest

she hasn’t gotten used to.

And the men haven’t either.

How to be a little girl

when she’s twelve and she bloomed before the others.

The most perfect flower in the garden,

who all the attention smothers.

They say you can’t blame the men

for commenting on her a**

They say,

as she carries the burden far too heavy

for a child walking to their sixth grade class.