Beware Pink - Katrina Lemaire

did you hear?

soft tulle ballerina barbie core

sipping watermelon Koolaid by the Claire’s store

is totally out of fashion

like,

you can’t wear knee high tights rising above thigh peak

cherry red chapstick kissing the corner of a bathroom mirror

oh the horror

tiny fruit hair snap-clips

glitter liner around cut crease

covering a shiner

smiling with strawberry lollipops in miniskirts and care-bear tanks

pigtails pinned over tricycle handlebars

salted tears mixing a blend of melted caramel vanilla cones

puckering a full pout for the camera lens

a photobooth crammed full of mosquito bites

flushed tender sun burns from a day of bikini beach escapades

rose blushed to the high press of cheekbones

hot bubble-gum pop brushed inside velvet-soft eyelids

beware pink for it is not what you think

did you hear?

pink is what makes you too girly

too cool

too worthy.

but you can’t tell anyone, okay?

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Katrina Lemaire is an emerging poet and fiction writer from Souther Ontario. She was a finalist for Sunspot Literary Journal's Geminga Contest 2023 and is currently working on a YA Contemporary Manuscript about gay witches and haunted forests with too many ghosts.