Why I’m Afraid To Have A Daughter

I am afraid
to have a daughter
because I won’t know
how to tell her
that the magazines and models
will tell her
she should look a certain way
that her friends and role models
will warp their bodies
until she doesn’t know the difference
between real and fake
that the man she one day loves
will make her feel
like she is simply not enough

I am afraid
that when she asks me why
she isn’t perfect
and I answer, “but you are a miracle”
she won’t believe me.