Laura Kasischke

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

All those beautiful carefree days I spent as
a girl, braiding

my braids & painting my nails & glossing
my lips & scorching my wings & shaving 

my underarms & legs & bleaching 
the hairs on my upper lip & eating
nothing but cottage cheese for weeks
to get ready 

to go to the beach—

The confusion of the past
as fireproof as ash.

The follies of the future
as bulletproof as water. 

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