A Lesson on Teenage Girlhood

by Oona Keleher

I tried shaving for the first time,​

hidden in my bathroom—the​

razor blade came up bloody. 

No longer sunflower best friend, ​

I lay in piles of weeds that look like ​

daisies—nine years old and still growing,​

hunched over the toilet in pain,

staring at clumps of blood in the basin underneath ​

bare bottom. Little free thing—genderless and​

naïve—hit with a shovel, buried alive and still​

learning. 

It’s August. There’s a mosquito trying​

to get in. The buzz against the window ​

brews a headache in my brain. I can feel the blood ​

drip out of me. Let me tell you ​

a secret—we are all just trying 

to be a woman. To plug our wounds​

with tampons and pads and more​

bleeding technology ​

developed by a man. To fit in​

with everyone else. 

I wish people told you about growing up​

before it happened.  

About the Writer...

Oona Keleher is a young artist and poet from Florida. Currently, they work as the Senior Marketing & Social Media Editor for Élan International Literary Magazine.  When they’re not off writing somewhere, you can find them writing their own comics.

About the Artist...

Colson Gomez is a visual arts student with a focus in drawing and painting. She's interested in experimenting with different mediums and exploring unorthodox art forms, currently making art focusing on natural materials and subject matter concerning the natural world. Besides nature, she is passionate about art history and anthropology, and she feels like that influences a lot of her own artistic ideas.