Who You Calling Shorty Poem by Lonnie Hicks

I am the short girl who
is always at the end of the line
looking up at the shoulders of others
and I don't' like that.

All the models are tall and have long legs
me, I'm short and made to feel like a child
especially when standing in line staring at backs.
I am the short girl.

So I stand back when tall people approach
so as to not have to crane my neck looking up
I like shorter men most times for the same reasons and more
I have learned to resent the tall shelves built into my kitchen
and subway straps which stop too short
for me to reach.

Overly tall heels make me look like a stork walking
and hurt my feet;
I am the short girl
and I see guys
looking over my head
at other girls
when we talk.

So I make up for it by being smart
and putting cushions on my chair
by being a good dancer on the dance floor
although they told me I didn't have 'good lines'
in my ballerina class.

I am the short girl
and don't know what to do.

What would you do
if you were me?

I guess I could stop complaining
and grow up
but only if I could;
see what I mean?

Short people are the unseen minority
and please tell the rap people
to stop calling me shortie;
that is rubbing it in.

Some of us have bone implants
put into our shins
to gain an inch
but that is not me
that seems drastic and risky.

So I will relax into my navel landscape
and looking up at chins;
I suppose life could be worse
than merely being always called shortie.

But folks keep in mind
true though that might be
us short people
don't like that only our height is being seen
as the most important thing
people see.

So all you storks
gangly and tottering
know by aged 60
you will all lose height
and you tall folks
will sink right down
to the same height
as the rest of us.

Then you and I will
come to see eye to eye.

Until then
see this as the short person's manifesto.

(Smile)