every need is a ripple - Giselle Tran
Birth singed of what girl
was meant to be, but my place
shimmered like a ripple
in the reflection of the water.
I didn’t know the word need,
couldn’t match the picture
of me to the pink barbie picture,
couldn’t accept insults ‘like a girl’,
couldn’t understand the need
to fall into a well-defined place
where I was expected to water
not grow. Soothe, not ripple.
But all it takes is one rock to ripple
and blur every part of the picture.
A stream and a sea are both water,
so I wanted to be the girl
that ran the race for first place
and didn’t settle to fit a need.
These terms were my need
but they always caused a ripple
that would shake and displace
my worth. So when I drew my future picture,
I crossed out every girl
tanning and not playing in the water.
I always felt closest to water.
It gives without forgetting its need,
is patient and gentle like a girl
should be, but also lives in the constant ripple
between the snap and capture of a picture.
Rushes into the empty to take its place.
Maybe that’s what I wanted–to be a place,
like a river or a lake or bottle of water
floating through the sea. Picture
us all getting what we need,
not fighting the ripple
redefining the thought of girl.
Picture me finding my place,
knowing girl is synonymous with water,
and every need is a ripple.