Tits And Other Magic Tricks by Maddi Crease / @maddicreasepoet

High school girl gets detention today.

She always goes out of her way

To avoid it.

She’s not often in trouble,

But when she is,

Oh, she kicks up quite the stink!

“Bra straps showing, second time this week,”

Mr Asshole declares.

The lads smirk and wink.

She rolls her eyes and fakes a gag,

Asshole glowers, burning into her back.

And all this,

She thinks,

Cause these boys get so little

They turn a strap into a wank.

“Sir I need a piss, though!”

I’ll be back by lunch, I swear!”

“No toilet during class time, Amy,”

He reprimands, and glares.

“Nah, sir, I’m on my time though.

I need to change my pad!”

He sighs, points to the door,

Waves her off with such despair.

Scurrying out the classroom,

She’s proper raging now.

The men in this school are such shits.

The men who work here, bastard pricks.

All over a strap upholding her tits.

On her way to camp out in the loos,

Til lunch time bids adieu,

She’s raging.

Fucking detention,

Didn’t even say a thing!

Cause the girls in this school,

They’re magicians.

But Amy don’t comply.

She won’t stick in with their regime

And roll over and die.

She can’t stop herself from thinking.

This male-gaze nation

Put conformity above education!

There’s no way she can win.

With her shirt stretched semi-see-through over

Broad shoulders, big tits-

She wears a vest to cover,

But they’re still on her back,

They wanna attack

A girl for any fucking thing!

A bra strap might make boys laugh,

But going bra-free forbidden.

The one time she did that in protest

She was sent home,

Get ‘em hidden.

“Fuck them all,”

She whispers,

Slamming shut the loo stall door.

Digs in pocket, pulls out pad,

Unwraps and changes over.

Now she’s raging, not just mad,

She’s steaming-

He deserves a whack.

See, Amy’s never trouble,

Just knows what she believes,

And hiding and pretending,

Are two of her pet peeves.

Why should our girls hide bra straps,

And say they need to pee?

When they’re told they have to wear them,

With no choice but to bleed?

She’s stewing and she’s screwing

Caught up in thought until-

The washroom door creaks open,

And she hears a call-out shrill.

“Amy, Mr Jones told me.

Just come out,

Must be done.

I know that it’s a pain,

Ames, but you can’t win every one.”

“Fine, I’ll go to the detention.

But I won’t sit there quiet.

My bra strap’s not some disappearing act,

And a period ain’t taboo.”

Amy sees through.

Through the bullshit misogyny,

Education here allows.

So she’s gonna get in rows

When they tell her what to do.

When they tell her,

Nah, she can’t go to the loo.

Nah, a bra strap isn’t code.

The boys will laugh and goad.

She’s sitting in detention,

Supervision asks her why.

“Amy, you’re a good kid-

Pull your skirt down,

Can see your thigh, kid.”

“Oi, Miss, why though!”

“Why’ve I gotta disappear,

And shrink into my skirt,

And thicken up my shirt,

And hide my straps and pads?

I’m not some damn magician,

And you say to have ambition,

And this won’t fly when I go to work,

Well I think you’re a fucking jerk.”

And Jake is laughing in the back,

She wants to give him a slap,

But she won’t.

Cause she’s a good kid.

She just can’t magic away her tits.

And she wouldn’t.

They’re all pricks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poetry by Maddi Crease / Instagram: @maddicreasepoet

Facebook Page / Maddi Crease Poet

Website: maddicreasepoet.com

Maddi Crease is a spoken word and page poet based in Essex, England. She mostly writes on themes of mental health, equality and diversity, and her lived experience. This piece emerged as a response to everyday sexism which women and girls face from a young age, and was first performed at an outdoor open mic in summer 2020.