From 7-years-old, good girl, you were told,
be good for the nanny, be good for your teachers…
Being good was a choice—Good girl.
Be a good girl—I’ll be right back, she says.
She knows it’s a choice you will always choose.
Being good means nothing if it is just a word—Good girl.
You enter a new world, filled with people willing to do wrong,
bullying you into wanting to be like them, flashy, unreal, and fickle.
You know who you are, but you choose to forget—Good girl.
You choose to stop being a good girl, to defy authority,
get your fill of rebellion, then remember your mother—
good girl, I will always love you—Good girl.
Always the intrusive thoughts: Did he leave because
you weren’t good? Or were you just all girls?
You will be good forever after, you think. You hope—Good girl.
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