kiddie pool

 

two little girls stare in my direction
smoke
heavy eye make-up
and
flared nostrils
cover the small face of this Pearl
still
a slightly potted belly
flat chest
and wet bangs (haphazardly matted on her forehead)
offer hope to this inverse Peter Pan
her friend, sister, or lonely neighbor
sit wet in dad’s old t-shirt
her breast seem broken
and so does she
this timeless life of summer
is not about
these babies
an outie belly button
an attitude
or a life in the backseat
but about her cigarette
that will soon be ash.

Cassie Frank, Class of 2007