When did it start to
happen?
Was it as soon as you were
born?
Or was it even earlier
As you floated in the amniotic
fluid?
Or even at the moment of
conception
In a complex interplay
Of genes and chromosomes
That the differences
began?
The females of my species
Developed along a very different
path
From the ways that I had
known
And had their own concerns
That yearned for pink in
everything
(When I know full well
That such a colour
Never crossed our minds)
And took to wanting
dollies
And kittens and puppies
From a very early age
And then grew up all too
quickly
Soon giggling in barricaded
bedrooms
Confused by active
hormones
Pre-occupied with latest hairstyles
And clothing in the fashion
magazines
Or brands of make-up and
shampoo
And the sensitive removal
of body hair
Or the base behaviour
Of the latest boyfriends
And who fancied who at
school
Then the greater changes
Of maturing mind and body
Ripening into an
all-at-once adulthood
With its sudden
sensibilities
Of the female and the feminine
And the ferocious
gender-bonding
Among the sisterhood
And a new respect
For a mother long-ignored
And who had little time
for men
The masculine, muscled
males
With their loudness and
crudeness
Their football and
sporting obsessions
And testosterone-driven
lives
When did you girls grow
into women?
Was it something subtle that
I missed?
How did you grow so far apart
from me
And became so very different?
And how many years has it
taken now
For us to hardly know each
other once again?
Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2013
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