A mother sits her ten year old
daughter down over lattes and tells
her in an earnest tone how disappointed
she is at her choice of clothing.
She pinches a fold of the girl’s baggy
sweatshirt between a thumb and forefinger
like body fat calipers, and with a face that
just sucked a lemon, says “tomorrow
I want you to wear the shirt we just
bought, with that vest, and I want
the vest zipped up, and if I need to I can
call your teacher to make sure…”
After, mom gets up to use the bathroom,
leaving the girl alone, staring into her cup.
She raises her eyes and sees me, but before I
can give her the smile I so desperately want to
give her, she looks away again. Stares at the
table as the words burrow, doing their job—
the way worms soften soil for a thousand
seeds, cast by careless hands or shifting
winds. I swear I can even hear them.
From ten feet away. I can hear their
horrible tiny mouths chewing, gnawing,
tunneling deep inside her.
____________
deuce coupe 
It is a shame some parents can not permit their children laxity in making decisions which reflect the desire to express their personality and individuality, even worse is that the parents lack the communication and social skills which hopefully would make the child feel unique and special by encouraging self expression through structured activities, ballet, sports, music lessons, scouting for some, 4-H, volunteerism. If clothing is the only choice they have, well, the worms are eating away at more than their brain, the worms are devouring their potential to become self aware, self assured, self confident, and the ability they will later need to apply when selecting friends, partners, jobs, if it’s cool it isn’t necessarily going to result in anything beneficial to the child, literature and music and help forge social consciousness. The girl had nothing but a griping mother. The imagery is powerful.
Verrrrry good and worthy work.