Mehtab Mowgli

My Teenage Sanctuary

It was my sacred refuge.
Far away from the suffocating grip
Of my young immigrant parents
Who feared American adolescence.

I changed in the girl's bathroom.
Before I went to class.
I adorned my moon face
strawberry lip gloss
Kohl eyeliner
Ebony mascara
Unbraided my baby shampoo aromatic hair.

In school I was free
To mingle
To flirt
Stand by the lockers
Wearing my black sheer stockings
Miniskirt
Reebok hightops

From the first period to the sixth period
I  moseyed through the classrooms and hallways
A smile draped across my face.
My eyelashes whimsically dancing.
Until it was time to get on the school bus and go home.

Once, my parents grounded me
For my belligerence.
Honestly, I deserved it.
I was such a surly
Outspoken
Feminist from the beginning.

I tied a bed sheet to my balcony
Slid down the sheet.
Like a Cat Woman on a getaway expedition.
Ran off into the horizon
To School.
My teenage sanctuary.