the girls at the beach
all have blankets of hair
the same brown blanket
brushed and flopping
looks hot in both ways
blanketing their same
outfits of shoulderless
puffs and sporty thong
bottoms I stare at their butts
in disbelief forgetting they’re 16
they play volley-ball with a
foreign gusto, shrieky games
of capture and chase
flirt through braces
spitting ice cream, I remember
Though I was never
closer than this
no one envies me with this haircut
no one wishes they looked how I did
I hear the blanket girls think:
I would never cut my hair because, obviously
I am a blanket girl
brushed and flopping
and obviously I am hot
In both ways
I wanna know if they’re saying
the same stuff that they say
at the Jersey shore like shut
the fuck up when a scrawny
boy has you above his head
are you really squeaking fuck you
in your thong in the town center?
are you really
constantly yelling
I also want to say shut the fuck up
and just wait for life
but also
I want to be them all too
to be so taught on display
calling attention to such
smooth, blank skin
no one envies my shorts my
slapdash tomboy beachwear
and I’m free
bleeding because I can’t deal
don’t mind me just walking
up the stones in my wet, red shorts
I’m just planting seeds
filling up and blowing every dollar
to be elsewhere
on the 3rd day I search for the girl
in the red bathing suit because
she’s the best one and actually
the only I imagine when I imagine
the blanket girls at large this one
has heavy chains around her neck
and also braces so she literally shines
seemingly aware of her figure in space
the tourist teens pale in comparison
as if they have happened upon their
bodies by mistake standing at the edge
of the water like they’re waiting for
something cool to happen to while
they talk but mostly look around
and adjust their suits and I get hit
in the head with a soccer ball
and decide to leave the beach since
the shadows are long anyway and
the sand blows in stinging swirls
