something for the sunlit girls

This work includes mentions of abuse, disordered eating, implied sex, substance abuse, and human trafficking. Please read with care.

this is a letter for the girls who can’t hold a plot line
upon the stories they ramble through or the girls
who aren’t sure if they’ll outrun their destiny.
my heart goes out to the girls who litter orange slices
on the woodland earth, hoping that they’ll be a snack
for the deer. (little do they know, sickness and
blood trails behind them, hopping along like bunnies.)
quickly now, you can’t lose the trail. don’t let the birdies
eat your breadcrumbs lest the wolves feast on your guts.

flowers litter the trails she prances upon, grown of love
and decomposed intestines. i will muse upon the kept
girls, locked in cages that don’t exist (these lost ones
didn’t know what they got into, poor things) and trained
to think a morsel of bread is all they need. their ribs poke
from their chest. children think it must be desired,
water washing over their system as a pilates princess
goes through another juice cleanse.

this is a tale for the girls who understand the need for
exploitation but cannot fathom their victimization.
they take the sable blackness of their hearts and trick you
into believing the flesh isn’t molting and maggots
aren’t digging out of the thin skin of your forearms.
she receives a kiss on the forehead for spreading her tongue
on his foreskin. he leaves for his day job
(and he’ll eventually leave her for his secretary).

liquor slides down her throat, smooth like jagged
edges of the blade that’s pressed to her jugular.
she bleeds the brown sugar bourbon and drags gloss
against her lips. “this one goes out to the blonde girl
in the back! call me, hon.” and suddenly she is snared
in the shipping container, going to new worlds
but at what cost? she’ll sell her breasts and face,
along with her soul (by purely some extension).

this is a letter for the girls who’ve lost themselves
along the way. the sunlight has turned cold and nobody’s
coming to save you. i can’t say they didn’t warn us.

Delilah White is currently a sophomore teen poet who attends Interlochen Arts Academy as a creative writing major. In her free time, she enjoys running, political debate, and studying quantum computing. You can find more of her work under the Instagram handle '@delilahdrewwrites'.