Baby Girls usually learn to speak before they walk,
my mom used to say.
But not you,
you took your time before you spoke.
Your first word wasn’t mom or dad
not even cat or dog, it was
no.
By then you were already running.
Marta Santos (she/her) currently lives in Lisbon. Besides working in communications for the creative and cultural sector, she writes poetry, short stories and non-fiction. Of the poem, she says, “this is a story about learning to be assertive and how there are more ways than one to create boundaries.” @martaldsantos
This poem is in response to a prompt selected by our Creative editor Monika Radojevic, “Learning to Speak”. To stay up to date and submit your response to next month’s prompts, follow us on Instagram where we make the announcement.