Rolling Stone named you the
Girl Who Broke All the Rules,

but Ella, you taught us there
were no rules to begin with.

They say you dress like a Goth and
dance like a puppet struck by lightning

and you say to them, yes, I do. I am
allowed to. I am allowed to be whatever

version of myself I want to be today.
When pop culture took a magic eraser

to your rigid cheeks for their magazines,
you told them your skin was not theirs to edit.

The next day, I swear I didn’t wear any cover-up
to school at all and I still felt beautiful. Lorde,

my little cousin heard you say you were a feminist
on the radio, and now her and a gaggle of 5th graders

call themselves “Club Confident.” From you, millions
of girls learned it is cool to be on each other’s team.
How revolutionary; busting the system that
taught us to see every ponytail as competition

and that we are all supposed to like pink but
it can only be one of our favorite colors.