My daughter at age 7
is a window
into girl world
a land of star-shine and unicorns
so today I ask her
to give names to all her leotards
and she names them
Bronwyn who is brown,
Cinderella who is yella,
and Fred who is purple.
Why Fred? I ask.
Because it’s too tight, she says,
and I sweat in places
and it’s embarrassing
and Fred is the old man who stares.
Joe Cottonwood lives under redwood trees in La Honda, California dodging wildfires and playing with grandchildren. He is the author of the underground novel Famous Potatoes. His most recent book of poetry is Random Saints.