She was reading
"In Watermelon Sugar"
when rain carried her back
from the days of grass and pills
when she was blonde and braless
playing frisbee with some guy
in the park. She is alone now,
wondering why she turned from woman
back into girl, bottle-bleached and breastless.
All out of wit from effort to be normal,
the eyes of the young, pretty nurse
follow her as if she is controversial,
an exhibit in the modern art museum -
a thing- off plumb and compelling,
no one wants to get caught staring
The girl could have been her daughter,
the one she decided not to have.
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