by Elisabeth Long

Created on: November 05, 2009   Last Updated: April 01, 2011

Pajama Party

Tonight my living room is cluttered

with sleeping bags

and leggy girls,

with whispers and giggles

through the night of my baby's twelfth.

Tomorrow's women

fickle as March's lion

and lamb

-swooning over childish boys they once hated

and will again.

Playing with makeup, they roll

on the lip gloss

and peer into the shine

of dog-eared photos-new foundation

looking back to toothless grin.

Forming a circle

their bodies flow together

in a swift red flannel

dance-the time honored

initiation to unimagined complexity.

Scattered and sprawled these snoring angels

-Keep them tonight at least

safely patch-worked here.

Learn more about this author, Elisabeth Long.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.