Contributor Series 9: If Men Had Ears
Talent Show
By Monica Crumback
When she asks and one of those
bitches says she’s off key, she
comes home and tries to be cool.
She doesn’t cry or fuss, just sits
and lists the few girls still her friends.
Oh hell yes, she’s got this, I’m told
and retold. Does she, though?
Is this tough? Or is this really just
as it seems: her sitting sorting names,
her needing one mean girl’s permission
to sing.
Monica Crumback’s most recent poem to appear here was Last Picnic, published in March 2011 as part of Contributor Series 8: Feast and Famine.
Life can be tough.
Such a concise and lovely expression of the perils and pain of early self definition in a hostile world — the ache of the intertwined voices of parent and child is beautifully realized. Gorgeous.
Indeed.
Great Comment :-)!