10/20/2010

Lorna Goodison's Two Little Girls

Two Little Girls

Two little girls to sit
in the garden
to play at tea
I had good-hair
they sent me.
My mother made me wear gloves
and I stepped past Miss Bea
sellin oranges at the gate
past Curriman and George
and Mr. Butty
Past Vie who sold her
waitress body
and hovered above the gutter
like a net-over-taffeta cloud
and they took me to where
there were real trees
and Lady Foot said I was pretty
and when I came home wrapped in vanity
My brother said I was a boasie bitch
and that returned me to reality.

Copyright Lorna Goodison. Reprinted with author's permission.

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