Ugly girls win,
We win the war but lose the battles,
we win the booby prize.
We make you do it.
We make you ugly.
Ugly girls win.
We win the battles but lose the war,
drowned in our own self
loathing clothing.
We are free
from beauty additives,
activated in disgusted sheets
when the webcam cheats us
out of marriage and home.
Ugly girls win.
We win instant gratification.
We win wine!
A cheap vinegary smack on the back
of the throat.
We win nobody’s vote.
We win time.
Pile it up into days, weeks and months of lonely internet banking,
Dripping it like honey,
making it funny for diminishing returns
but –
our fun stops.
Ugly girls win.
We win short lived teenage sympathy.
We’re stepping stones to better things.
The best we can do is give
a listening ear
in their infrequent armistices
whilst they regroup and repoint and repluck their eyebrows.
We’re on the sidelines of this war.
We win white feathers for our bravery and we…..
We are grateful for all eye contact.
Ugly girls win.
We win bored hands and sliding eyes,
that look behind us as we kiss,
stiff backs and whiskey lies…….
to us.
We win nothing at school but we get to lose and be grateful,
moving through all the dress sizes,
watching our lives………. never quite fitting.
We win third place and have to face those girls with nice hair and smooth fathers,
always first rate.
Forever.
Ugly girls win.
We win nothing.
We win it all.
The invisible wall is too smooth and high to even try to climb
So we paint it with what could have been clouds
and think about the next prettier life.
Alice Smith 2022
First novel Ugly Girls Win coming soon…followed by many more….
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