Men Who Think I Am One of Them Speak

^{She really let herself go.}

This story is hard to tell. 
When the men you love
insist a woman hold on
never 
let herself go 
never 
let herself loose
never 
let herself leave
never 
let herself depart
never 
let herself mobilize
never 
let herself imagine
never 
let herself grow
big enough to lift off
the runway 
like a jet
full of fuel.

Copyright © 2022 by Stacey Waite. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 22, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“As someone who often gets read as a cis male and who is masculine-presenting, I have found myself often thinking about the things men do and say when they think they are ‘among men.’ This poem is from a series that chronicles these experiences.”
—Stacey Waite