I am not your muse.

I wasn’t put here

to inspire you

while starving myself

of my own voice.

My pain is not your plot twist.

My beauty is not a backdrop

for your becoming.

Don’t write poems

about my body

and forget to learn my name.

I am not your mother.

Not here to raise you

into the man

you should’ve already been.

I will not coddle your ego

or cradle your wounds