Barbie Chang got her hair done for
the school auction
she was afraid sick of the Circle since
she heard of their
shopping for matching dresses so out
of the nest she flew
into the auction thinking she could
outmaneuver her
loneliness thinking she could overcome
being classified thinking
she could be an agent of her own
classification in came
the Circle dunk tossing coins at baskets
one in pink one in
green one in orange one in purple
matching floral
barrettes glowing like a rainbow that
seemed low enough
to reach to touch Barbie Chang would
never admit it but
she still wanted the rainbow to rain on
her to wear bows in her
hair that meant she belonged somewhere
else she owed it to
her children to make friends to blend
into the dead end
From Barbie Chang (Copper Canyon Press, 2017). Copyright © 2017 by Victoria Chang. Used by permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.