Trimmed to Fit
My girl is feral:
roared like a lion
when she was seven.
Ten years on
she's a colt
shying at the fakeries
of her peers:
skin tamed to tan
from a bottle,
plastic lashes
stapled on,
hair waxed
from sensitive places.
They speak in altered,
confident drawls,
of glamour,
drink, and conquest;
cut each other
with brutal commentary.
My girl is terrified
of this: being pretty,
trimmed to fit,
and yet never
measuring up.
You might as well
put lipstick on the moon
as bridle her;
she walks
in her own orbit,
proud,
alone
and in pain.
Katie Donovan has published five collections of poetry with Bloodaxe Books. Her most recent, Off Duty (2016), was shortlisted for the Irish Times/Poetry Now Prize. In 2017 she was the recipient of the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry.