Dear all the men in my life — Correction — Dear all the toxic men in my life I will not write a poem about you Some men aren’t worth the words I won’t romanticize our fights And the way my lungs burned When I would scream at you I won’t make girls fall in love with you Boys envy you I can’t romanticize a crime Some men aren’t worth a poem You do not get to hear the knots of my metaphors As they form and kiss your ears I am tired of learning the same lesson over and over One day you’d think I’d learn that people are not medicine I find myself addicted to people that hurt me I tell myself Some poems are not meant to be written Some poems are better locked in my heart Than locked in your brain I’d rather walk backwards into hell Than write a poem spinning a tale About everything you put me through Some men are meant to be forgotten I won’t write a poem about how I almost apologize Even though I can’t remember What I did wrong Remember an apology without change Is just manipulation with a smile I will not string pretty similes To form your stories I can’t write a poem about you I won’t write a poem about Men that talk about feminism And then go cracking jokes about rape It’s kinda funny the last time I heard that punchline My friend was saying #MeToo Some men aren’t joking I won’t write a poem about how You are a depressed man That just needs someone to save you Sorry I’m not rehab for your broken heart I refuse to let myself go down with you I won’t write a poem about How I used to admire you Your sentences could build castles and cathedrals Yet you chose to use your words to burn And I still have the ashes in my mouth The same way you still have the fire in your eyes Tell me: Why are women the songbirds of change To your deaf ears? I refuse to write a poem Painting you into this pretty picture Of words that cascade from my mouth like a waterfall You don’t deserve to be beautiful If anything, I will give you a mirror And you can tell me what you see — A man or someone who pretends to be I am tired of the men That beat love out of women and call it strength Some men don’t deserve to be called men at all And to the women who write endless excuses for these men I say to them: I believe every woman has a door to her heart The door is always locked And some men come with keys Others come with hammers Know the difference They always teach you how to open doors But never how to close them Because some men aren’t kind And some men don’t deserve your love poems Dear all the toxic men in my life I will never write a poem for you Because let me remind you Some men — No correction — You aren’t worth a poem.

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Charlotte Edwards is a poet based in Nashville, TN. She spends her time drinking too much hot chocolate and writing pandemic poetry. She is published at The Weight Journal, and was a finalist for Youth Poet Laureate for 2020. She is currently an intern at Southern Word, where she hopes to grow her abilities as a writer in hopes of one day becoming a renowned poet.

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