Girlhood, Interrupted.

“Girlhood, Interrupted” is a narrative poem that illustrates the complex phenomenon of Black girls made to feel and be treated as adult women. The voice is the amalgamation of my and many other Black gender marginalized experiences of puberty and adolescence. While subtly implied within the piece, periods represent a site of shame and confusion throughout the development of our narrator and Black menstruating folks across the African Diaspora. I hope my words provide someone with the comfort of knowing this is not an isolated reality, but a collective struggle.

She was made to feel,

in many ways, like a grown woman,

Or a hybrid child, from the age of twelve.

A relative once preached to her,

You’re in the midst of your becoming!

You’ve now got hips, thighs,

all might attract a grown set of eyes.

A great shame, older people would say

What were the wrongdoings

of your father’s younger days?

They believed karma had cursed him,

With a daughter to raise.

Girlhood, interrupted.

A familiar uneasiness would rise

within her. Words, judgments rather,

of puberty’s past trickling into the forefront of her mind.

Folks often buzzing in her

business, proudly unhelpful,

snarling with objectifying critique.

Unwanted comments spurring

from their lips, their gazes painted

with scold. She wondered why her poise,

that was once presented with praise:

She’s such an old soul, a child full

of wisdom, that used to fall from mouths,

had fallen out of favor.

Girlhood, interrupted.

Perhaps because she now had the appearance to match.

Her fleeting youth newly complicated by an overdeveloped figure,

one now unable to squeeze into the narrow bodices,

and floral-patterned shorts of junior-sized clothing.

Always homely, never properly fitting into childhood.

Nonetheless, akin to a toddler stumbling in her mother’s heels

when imposing on the women’s aisle.

Perpetually mismatched. Girlhood, interrupted.