I Want My Life To Fit


I want my life to fit like Barbie's
skin-tight jumpsuit--
sunshine pink spandex
to accommodate each change. But

somehow I've got myself caught in the zipper:
teeth of past and future,
meant to dovetail
neatly, bite the present. One

pulls against the other's push, and Raggedy Ann
feels pinched--her torn ticking
tossed about like a grey mitten
badgered off by taunting boys.

One of them will take it home
or throw it away.


- Maxianne Berger