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.