Tom Boy

Taking the subject of genders (inequality/identity/bias/policing/crisis) further here’s a poem i wrote a few months ago. I know most girls will identify with it (irrespective of how girlie they are per societal definitions) and most boys will empathise to…because there’s a little bit of a boy in all girls and a bit of the feminine gene in all boys too. Tom Boy One amongst the boys They told her you are Never found whining Her father’s star Such confidence such dare She showed no meekness But the band of bullies They knew her weakness Her thinking mind was often at odds With her feeling heart A tom boy they called her But she was only half Who are you? A stranger asked her At the train station Where are you headed?? Where do you belong? Her hand on her heart she couldn’t lie I don’t know anymore She sighed and cried I think like a man I’m strong in appearance But my heart feels like a woman It’s full of endearments And even so I assure you I’m not wholly her For I am not poised And graceful as it were So friendly stranger I’m no one at all And I don’t know if I belong Anywhere overall Where I’m headed I cannot say I’m out on a quest And hopefully someday I’ll find a place where my kind reside Where a thinking mind Coexists with a feeling heart on side Where aggression of thought Is not misconstrued To be a sign of strength And a feeling heart A sign of meekness Where those without poise and beauty Can peacefully lie Where thinking mind Can run awry So do you know Of any such place Or people that belong To my race I am pretty lonely in the world of man And Unwanted I am in a woman’s domain Tom Boy the boys say Incomplete woman is on display

-Malini (Copyright reserved with Malini)