THAT

She hangs around that bend up there
Singing her bawdy songs with an innocent expression
With a dip to her step and bounce to her skip
And when she jumps rope with all the other little
girls
(Whose hair curls like grapevine runners)
She likes to wink at the boys
Just like she knows what it means

She wear her skirt just a pinch past modest
But always makes sure the buckles of her Mary Jane’s
shine just right
And she likes to tell herself she’ll be a doctor
Heal the world with a Band Aid brand bandage
And win a prize for peace

But some says that girls like her
Who like to blow kisses into the wind
And like to pout when nothing’s wrong
Girls like—that, who grow up at twelve and are old
at thirteen
Girls like that, they never pass that bend up
there
Let her grow up to wear her fishnets
Grow up like no one cares, to join the painted faces
at the bend up there

- Kyle Sterling