I am thirteen, and I feel like a queen

Because my girls and I are all over this scene.

Dressed up in shorts, tank tops, and our dreams

It is summer in the city and we will do as we please.

We catwalk down South Congress in late afternoon,

With plans to get cupcakes and candy real soon.

We hold hands and skip, hair flip, we just assume,

That we are on top of the world, that is true.

But it isn’t long before the sun starts to set,

we know we must get home before Zoe’s moms get upset.

So we start back the way that we came,

Untroubled and giggling, more of the same.

But we stop at a traffic light because it is red,

And now there is a voice whispering in my head,

Because a truck full of men just stopped at the block,

And they are letting their eyes roam all over our frocks.

They whistle and cat call as we back up slowly,

And that’s when one of them opens the car door knowingly.

He makes a move to get out of the car

And at this point I’m thinking that we couldn’t get very far

If we tried to run, no, we can’t get away from this,

And the man is stumbling toward us with his hand in a fist.

But it wasn’t his hands that made me afraid,

It was the look in his eyes as he saw past our charade.

He saw we were alone, and it was very near dark,

He knew that what he wanted would be a walk in the park.

But then the light turns green, and his friends call him back,

And they drive away, howling like a wolf pack.

It is on our walk home that we sooth each other’s shivers,

And the fear is replaced with rage that makes us quiver.

The whole way home we glance over our shoulders,

Something I still do since my naivety was shattered.

I’m fourteen now and I don’t feel like a queen,

But I hope someday women will reign supreme,

So that girls aren’t preyed on while walking the streets

Because men don’t know the difference between us and fresh meat.

So don’t cat call me when I’m walking the track...

You never know when you might end up with kitty claws in your back.