No, please
tell me what to wear
tell me what I wear when I choose what I wear is wrong

Tell me how to speak
or explain what I speak in ways others
understand,
because
you know,
if I say it, Babel would crumble
with the cacophony of my words

Tell me what to read
how to wipe my body
how the make up I wear makes me look
whorish
But you concede –
it’s my choice after all,
to look like that
(that whore who makes her living on your desire)

You tell me I need more salt in my curry
more length to my skirt
less volume in my laugh
to be thinner
smoother
curvier
but – not fat
Fat girls aren’t girls
As if being female is one idea alone
As if being feminine is gentle, demure, docile,
soft, sexy, fragile,
neurotic, screechy, bitchy, bra-burning truth
As if in being not like that I’m emasculating you

To which I say – be a man
Strong, successful, ambitious, fearless, resilient, rich, tough
– be a tough guy
not a crier
definitely not a crier
Boys don’t cry
They grow to be men who don’t cry
Men who lie
Men who hide their pain and hurt the women they love
Men who tell the women they love what to wear

Dubai, Feb 2018