The girls drum their fingernails
Lightly
Not like real drumming
More like timid rain.
Their nails extend
Two nail lengths past
The end of their nail
Shiny white
Shiny pink
Shiny red if they’re feeling
Different.
They tap like timid rain
On their desks
On their chins
On their travel mugs
Timid
Rain
Pat
Pat
Tap.
But the ones I love
Are the ones who come into school
Holding school breakfast
Their nail polish is stars on their nails.
It’s five days since the perfect polish turned
To broken pieces
Now they’ve been stars
Since I can remember
And they’re little magenta dots
All over her nails
And she hasn’t taken them off yet
And I love her for her stars.
Comments
"The Girl With Nail Polish Like Stars" is this week's featured poem on vtdigger.org, up now in their Life & Culture section. Everyone can check it out now, here! vtdigger.org/life-culture
I love this poem so, so much, and I think of it every time I paint my nails. Everything in it is so beautiful and thoughtful!
Thank you!
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