Vindication…

Vindication of the Rights of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl

By Abby Thatcher

No one lets me gossip without falling

in love. I have too much to say,

I won’t let you get a word in, and yet

you’ll lace my words with the blue

hair of your favorite damsel. Replace

my image in every instance with that

of a girl begging for your help. Pretend

not to notice me slink away from sympathy.

Pretend you don’t know how little I care.

“Why are you crying, this is a funny one.”

Your favorite to twist is always

the failures of other men, need to know

how he failed the greatest because

it means you’re better if you don’t.

The girls I use this same seduction on,

the only time it's ever intentional,

Don’t take it as flirtation. How dare

they understand personhood.

Your body is small in these arms,

I say “grotesque,” and you walk away.

I begin to workshop how I will tell the

next body that you fell too quick,

and they’ll laugh and say, “What a loser,

I would never.”