Mother once told me

That I am strong and I am beautiful

I am intellegent and I am capeable.

I am only fifteen, but in my few years I have seen,

I flip through the pages of shiny, newly bought magazines.

Women with flawless skin, dazzling white teeth and a tiny waist

How is it they are so perfect?

Am I a disgrace?

 

Society is saying, it is screaming.

PRETTY. PRETTY.  PRETTY.

You have to be

SKINNY. SKINNY. SKINNY.

I am trying, do you not see?

I am straigtening my teeth,

I am wearing a mask,

I am flattening my hair

I am doing what you ask!

 

I am a teenage girl.

Your demands are absurd.

I am more than my looks,

Than my waist,

Than the brands.

I have a brain, I am  smart, I can write, I am tough.

I just want to be accepted, is that not enough?

 

Mother once told me, that it is all lies.

They used make-up and photoshop

To hide, to disguise.

I am not a size zero,

I have stretch marks on my thighs.

I have breakouts, I get acne

If I told you I was perfect.

That would just be a lie.

 

I am more than whats I am constricted to be

I am cutting the ropes, I am just being me.

I wash away the makeup, and I face the mirror.

and I take a look and I stare at what is truly there.

 

All my life Ive been comparing myself.

Always wanted to be someone else.

I wanted blonde hair, and blue eyes

To be the perfect picture, in someone elses mind.

To be told I am pretty, to be told I am worthy.

 

Mother once told me; 

I am tall and I am smart.

I am beautiful, and set apart.

I am different and compassionate.

I am everything I fail to see.

 

Maybe it took me a bit long to realize

That behind these brown eyes, was a mind.

A mind that did not see.

The beauty and perfection,

I portray as me.