Contrast Girls

One speaks in swimsuit fashion terms.
One says her name is Jane.
One reveals pitfalls of self-abuse
in the English of her day.

When the phone rings this one curses.
She has no plans for later.
Some girls have names that could be guys’.
This one’s a “freak of nature.”

This one fancy-pantsed her way
across the continent.
And this one spent large sums of cash
trust-funded by her parents.

That girl there wore stiffened stays
and laced herself with bones.
She tied herself with strings, became
a little ham of rage.

My sister & I once spent the day
walking around in Brooklyn.
We watched a capybera do
nothing, for like an hour.

-Shanna Compton