How to be

you have to be pretty and you have to be smart,
you have to be lovely and you have to be brave,
you have to be daring and you have to behave,
you have to be fearless and you have to be Eve

you have to be a paradox
of unsurmountable proportions,
all perfect and broken and sweet as can be,
a hurting doe at the mercy of the first soul
willing to drag you to your feet

you have to be a naked beast
in the clothes of a nun
and constantly kissing
with blood-red lips
a cross
made not for God,but for other's sins

you have to be as hollow
as they want you to be,
ready to close your eyes and happy to kneel

you have to be everything and still be pleased

I can't be.