nebulaeics:

somewhere, there’s a girl,
14, with a burning match in her hand
& i want to tell her look, look,
there’s no need to kill the ones who
came before us. they were here
first, they loved and hurt this body
just as much as you or i &
you’ll find no dignity in their destruction,
each new day shaking off the ashes of the last.

but what does it matter?
just one more girl in the ground, she’ll say,
just one more morning spent burning the shell
of yesterday’s daughter, scrubing her scent
off of your scalded newborn body as if
she were no more than dust, than dead skin.