For Pre-Teen Girls:

When the world crashes
around you into a symphony
of cymbals and grows so loud your
ears resemble blood more than
cheek, join the part of the band
that folds the skins over drums and makes it a
good beat.
This sound will hallow you, rip
away the toughest part of your
stomach lining, tear away
at the hips and fill your chest
with cortisol unless
you beat the world to the punch-
line.
Knock the wind out of the chaos,
recruit a better fight team,
teach your skin to soften
in replace of scars, too many girls
turn to leather and call it
victory.
You are a conductor-
electric brass, the voltage
causing glorified light
to the tune of becoming.
Take the charge, amplify
the noise- make a silhouette
out of the song,
Find refuge
in an unfinished ballad.

Skyler Jaye Rutkowski is a poet and spoken word artist from Buffalo, NY. She has recently represented her city in Denver as part of Buffalo's 2017 National Poetry Slam team. She volunteers at Just Buffalo Literary Center and is a proud board member of the Human Rights and Genocide Studies institute. She has recently been published in the anthology My Next Heart: New Buffalo Poetry and is currently working on her first chapbook manuscript. She tweets @SkylerJaye23