To Take Up Space
I take up space
Five feet, ten inches high
And as my hips are wide.
I've always taken up space
It's a bare necessity of being human.
Space in our lungs
Space through our veins
But when I was twelve years old
I hated the space that I deigned-
The weight I carried on my lower abdomen
The baby curve of my baby face
I wanted to take up less space.
So I made my words less
I made my thoughts less
To take up less.
That was when others took my space
They took the air out of my lungs and the blood out of my veins because I wouldn't claim them.
Because I couldn't claim them. To be a good girl you can't take up space.
You can't stretch your arms wide or use hot tears to cry or muster the energy to pull yourself over the peaks of the mountains you wish to summit.
But it's easier now, to take up the space that God granted me: All lungs and veins and baby faces and belly fat, it's the space I deign, the kingdom I rein.
The space I take up.