● POETRY IN VOICE
GOOD WILL DO
By Nadia Irshād
New Paragraph
There once was a little girl who wanted to be good enough
Good would do
She did what she was told
At times, she'd stomp her feet and show some personality
no dresses!
Always pretty when it was time
and demure when it was that hour
The only escape hatch she could ever find
was in art, movement
dancing in front of the mirror in her room
Once in a while, she would saunter outside the lines
do her hair
flip her winged liner or wear combat boots
She studied hard and asked for permission
until one day she made up her mind
she would outdo them all with
her own handpicked route to freedom
in this swirling abyss
slowly slowly creeping in like a flood she was emptied
until she was no more than a file, than a fee
He set a permit for everything
relentless combatting blame shame
so she drowned with the baby
And then the baby pulled her above water and she swam for the first time