Heart 
Beat
Sound 
Move
Make
Shake
Body 
Want

Girl
Hips
Girl
Feet
Girl
Ground
Girl Moving now
I dance to disappear
I dance to know I’m here
I dance ’cause I’m horny
’Cause it’s holy
’Cause I want to forget

I dance ’cause I’m pissed off
I dance ’cause I can’t
study anymore
I dance ’cause it’s better
then sexting
R u naked?
What r u doing with ur hands?

I dance because everything is possible
I dance ’cause it gets me high
’Cause it’s the one thing
you can’t take away
I dance ’cause it keeps me
separate
from everyone else’s
opinions and ideas
I dance ’cause I’m
bleeding
bleeding
becoming

I dance ’cause I can touch
the music
in the discos of Reykjavik
Mumbai, Manhattan, Barcelona
I dance till my mascara
runs down my chin

I dance to the drums of the forest and rivers
I dance to the beat of the cicadas
I dance to the traffic
to the crowds
to the silence
I dance to the end of unkindness
I dance past the killing fields
I dance past Wounded Knee
I dance past the skeletons and bones
I dance past slave branding
and Holocaust tattoos
I dance past inflicted identities
and demeaning looks
I dance past the limited determinations of my
abilities and worth
I dance past your lustful eyes
Your dirty interpretations of my teenage body
I shake off the burqas and bindings
and corsets and diets
I shake off restrictions and illegitimate rules
I shake off your suffocating warnings
I dance to the heartbeat of life
I dance because girls are the ultimate survivors.