When A Girl Gets Hurt

Words can and do hurt...

When I was in 6th grade, I fell for him. He was tall, muscular and handsome. From a distance he seemed nice and funny, but I got a glimpse behind his facade when he found out I liked him and told me he favored suicide over being with me because I wasn't feminine enough, because I wasn't skinny enough, because I wasn't good enough.. That was the day a part of me died. Now some of you maybe saying “What’s the big deal? He was a jerk So what?”

Here's the big deal. When a girl gets hurt by something said, she does not easily forget. It lodges itself deep inside her soul like a splinter that not even tweezers could reach. It festers like milk in the sun. It blisters like a sunburn. It warps the mirror in which she looks at to the point where she doesn't even see herself anymore. It scars, forever there as a reminder. And when a girl gets hurt by every guys shes ever liked, it damages. The words tattooed on her brain, never healing, causing hate, making her close every door she had built enough courage to open. 

She shuts herself down, turns herself off and still pretends to be fine. Depression sets in. She gets tired of the fake smiles she puts on day after day. She doesn't even have the strength to stand because every time she tries, she just gets knocked back down. Every ounce of self-esteem drained.

When a girl is hurt by something said, it affects all aspects of her life. Never feeling beautiful enough, never feeling worthwhile, Never feeling accepted. Always alone. She sits by herself most of the time, daydreaming about being like all the other girls. Thinner, tanner, taller… but knowing in the back of her mind what she really wants she can never be, because when a girl is hurt by something said, it never really goes away. Its just another lash of a whip to her back that reminds her of every imperfection she tried so hard to cover up with braces and make-up and straightening irons and curling irons and diets and work-out plans; of every secret she tried keeping, of that eating disorder she developed or those cut scars on her wrist she inflicted purposefully because she just couldn't take being hurt anymore! 

At the very end, she’s left broken, crushed, numb. Even if she never shows it or speaks of the pain, its there. Like the sting of rubbing alcohol in a brand new wound, but she covers it under her laugh, covers it up with her smile, acts like it never happened, like she never got hurt. When a girl gets hurt by something said, she’s left asking “What’s wrong with me?” when the answer is and always has been nothing. So the next time you talk to a girl, remember, when she’s hurt by something said, she does not easily forget.

Author's Note

This was supposed to be a slam poem.