“strong girls like you must be
the world’s loneliest creatures
your silences, their own wilderness
where the men
come with promises that they will be
the one that gets you to stay.
big-shouldered boys who will melt
their bones down into currency
and will want to conquer you but
never claim.
you are the girl they chase
not because they actually want you
but to prove that they can catch you.
what they haven’t learned
are all the times you’ve broken your own heart
on their behalf, those clumsy hunters
who never know the right sequence of words
to do the job properly
”