Yards to Go

we all know who wrote this deadly playbook—
‘boys being boys’,
their ‘natural’ impulses tackling their way
toward the end zone,
their only fear being ridiculed along the way

‘girls mature faster’, they always say,
but they never use that as a reason
to give more girls positions of power and authority;
it’s used to hold girls to a greater accountability,
all the while,
her greatest fear being acts of violence by a boy

clearly girls are still being double teamed,
and it’s time for a Hail Mary

or maybe we just need to get back to the basics:
girls have been told over and over they’re equal,
but boys just keep double passing—
and they have promises to keep

while girls have yards to go before they sleep,
yards to go before they sleep