[I WANT TO BE A MAN]

Norlynn Broadnax

I want to be a man.

Not just because their auras leave me in awe,

from the way their deep voice vibrates in my skull.

To the way they fit in their clothes, never ever quite full.

But to be a man means to be the world.

Watching women navigate my tough terrain,

knowing it’s all in vain because the world was never made for a woman anyway.

Never being reminded woman was made for man,

crafted by God’s hand.

I envy men,

being able to have value outside of what they can produce.

Never being thrown away like a used tissue.

I am just a fish holding my eggs,

till the day I am nothing more and anything less.

Men get to be lawyers, doctors, always protected,

but I will always be a mother first, and a daughter second.