Not Quite Girl Power

Is it wrong for me, personally, to sing along to that

Girl power song whenever it comes onto the radio?

I'm not quite sure because you see

No one else has answered this question for me

So could you help a guy out and let me know what you think?

I don't mean to be rude - trust me, I don't want to be rude

But no one seems to be listening

And if they are listening it's not at the right time, not in the right place

and it certainly doesn't seem that they're listening to my face going on right now.

So without listening and without answering, I'm not quite sure of the space

That I should be taking up, if any.

See now, what concerns me with this is the fact that

I am Definitely Not A Girl. I may have used to be,

or at least I supposed that I had to be,

And so that is where the slam poetry comes in.

I started in freshman year with this shit

Not the trans shit but the poetry shit and

boy let me tell you it ain't helped not one little bit

But it's something to do, better to do than to

sing along to that girl power song on the radio

Because I am afraid.

I am afraid of the man who catcalls,

Hanging out thep assenger side of his best friend's ride, tryin' to holla at me

like those ones from TLC, but it's not me.

It's 'she' and 'her' - the lady walking in front of me

Who I know is a lady because she just is.

I am not.

I am afraid of the woman who yells from across the street

Holding the sign alongside her sect brother which says 'Transexual is Sin'

Bound to that other side of the street not only by retired police but her

own prerogative to not get too close, lest she risk being infected by The Queers.

She's a middle-class-and-age mother of three but it seems to me that she cannot see

Through the rainbow paint and glitter, and overzealous beads

That the children she's protesting aren't just me but maybe even her own

And the children and mothers and sisters and brothers of other families - it's not just me, right?

I am concerned that it is wrong for me

To even think about bothering to sing along

To that Girl Power song that always comes on the radio when I am in the car.

Or on the train.

Or in a bus or a plane or a ship - it doesn't matter

The pain is real. It is trivial, but real.

So what can I do beyond try and appeal to you so that I can ask

And get a straight fucking answer to

"Hey. Could you turn that up? I kinda like this song."