Jelly Girls

                In 1984, every girl
wore those jelly shoes.
Glitter plastic in pink
                and blue and yellow
seemed so frivolous.
 
                They hurt, they pinched,
gave no heel or arch support,
but still,
                I wanted them.
 
Flimsy buckles and basket-
                weave spilling toes out,
                leaving sharp red grooves
like a map for hours.
 
I wanted to be that frivolous,
                to squeeze the surface of
my nine year old feet, marking me
like every girl.
 
8-5-13

No comments:

Post a Comment