NPM 2018: Good Girl (Day 29)

Good Girl
Written September 9, 2017

for Holly Bambina

Good girls are sickly sweet,
they are whipped cream and
sugar sprinkles, sugar showers,
sugar rushes till your teeth hurt.
They say a good girl is made of spice,
she is everything nice, she is daffodils
and tulips in a tamed garden,
she tastes like carnival cotton candy,
she is cinnamon on apple pie, but I…

I’m made of the darkest chocolate,
I am strong coffee and stronger gin,
a thick slice of toast with no butter,
and a cloud of ginger and cumin.
And if I’m a flower I’m dandelions,
I’m daisies on the side of the road,
growing among the gravel and rocks,
not caring where the grass stops,
never doing what I’m told.

And now we know you were the fool
who went on and loved me still
with your softness, golden-eyed,
your honey tones balancing my shrill.
You loved wildflowers and making wishes,
would take a bite of my temper
just to know if it was delicious.
You seemed not to care what I was made of,
who I was, or what my harshness might do.
Now that you’re gone
so are all my rough edges and
all I’m made of is you.