Sydney Thompson, a grade nine student at Esterhazy High School, recently got a poem of hers called “Standards” published by Poetry in Voice in the third edition of their journal called Voices. The publishers said that they received numerous submissions and chose 25 poems to publish. Sydney said that she “Wrote the poem about the pressure that is placed on girls, no matter the age, by society. I wanted to write something that could capture the severity of society’s misogyny.” The journal can be found online at www.poetryinvoice.com/write/poetry-journal. Here is Sydney’s full poem:
Standards
The skirt is too short.
The shirt is too sheer.
Her voice is too loud.
Her boobs are too small.
Society squishes her soul until there is nothing left.
The outline of a perfect girl with no one left inside.
The perfect height and the glittery eyes were enough.
Enough to let go of all respect.
Enough to dismiss all her opinions.
Enough to forget that she too is human.
She is not your little piece of treasure.
She is not for you to parade around.
She is human.
So treat her like one.
Make sure to congratulate Sydney on this publication!
Article By: Mallory Johnson