they keep all their leaves each winter

Annie starts digging through

the leaves with her hands

I start on the other side

opening up each

bush like

a present

Wet Wig

Before Clara’s wig was

stolen our mom

washed it once a week

because it always started to smell like

dirty hair but not

exactly dirty hair but

fake hair on top of dirty

hair the wet heavy blob

sat on a chair

resting in the winter sun blowing

just like the trees

I wondered

whether it was happy to

finally be left alone

bodiless again

or was it happy to be

on my sister’s hot head

I think she hated the wig

itchy smelly

afraid it would

fall off but I think the wig

loved her

must have loved her must have

wanted to serve her

as a service dog might

love its owner

School

I have no idea how

long we’ve been digging

I take a break and stand up straight

to stretch my back that has

been bent like a table

our school from afar

looks so small

a miniature building

gray and rectangular

so silent now

so empty now

it’s hard to believe

so much

happens in that

tiny building each day

it’s a whole

city in

a box

I see the kindergarten building and

its butterfly garden

where I used to fly up

and down in circles

following the butterflies

once in kindergarten

my mom picked me up

her eyes inked

with tears

she said

you have a big mouth

you talk too much

I had told the teacher that we had

the same workbook at home

my mom was called in

scolded by

the teacher

I told the truth

I thought I was supposed to

trust the teachers I didn’t know

how to lie didn’t want

to learn how to lie

my mom’s eyes

in the rearview mirror

looking back at

me looking at the road

yelling crying I am trying

to help you

you have to be smarter than

them work harder than them

that’s the only way you’re going to

make it here because

you will never

look like them

Double

Clara was always in the Gate

Program for gifted kids

not me

when others asked my mom about us

she always said Clara is

the smart one

she laughed when they

asked about me

Frances is always playing

with Annie

always going to the park

always playing tennis

always wasting time

I’m always the youngest in my grade

Clara is always the oldest in her grade

we don’t speak to each other at

school we survive

on our own we know

that it would be worse if we

banded together

double target

double Chinese

double

bad

luck

Dance

Even the PE building looks

small from here

Miss Beeoh

makes us dance in that

building

slow

dance

I wonder how slow dancing is

exercise but I never dare

to ask

Miss Beeoh is athletic and tall with

short brown hair

she always makes us stand up one by