'YOU'RE NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS'

'YOU'RE NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS'

It's not a compliment when you realize

how much like other girls you are.

How we carry the same fears of alleyways

and locker rooms and rumours gone astray.

How we all now to check on our friends

and make sure they get home.

How we all see implicitly

there are places we cannot go alone.

How we all recognize the goddess in one another, 

the divine knowledge that we need each other.

How we wrap out arms around each other

when no one else will because we know what hurts.

How at the end we recognize exactly 

what you're trying to do when you say,

'You're not like other girls,'

when the truth is we are.

We are exactly like each other.

It's why we need this sisterhood, 

because each other

is who we are fighting for.

@Nikita Gill from These are the Words. Fearless Verse to Find Your Voice, MacMillan 2022