by Bethan Northwood
The fictional tom-boys I grew up with—
How would you identify today?
Etched into my being,
You light the path ahead for me.
/I have always related more to characters
that stubbornly refuse to comply,
/Than with female friends,
making their homes in femininity.
/The Famous Five are eighty yet bound in paper;,
I grow and they never change.
/Imagine George as a twenty-first Century woman!
We would be best friends.
The unruly short-haired girls—when
He was the biggest compliment from strangers—
Evading the she-shaped molds even then
Misjudging how tightly I would hold them
Bethan Northwood (they/she) is 21 and from Wales, UK. They find inspiration from nature and their feelings of grief since the loss of a parent. She's still finding her voice and very pleased to be here.