midwest orange white girl

she couldn’t get a tan that would make the grade round prom time &
so off to the cancer cocoons she went,
cooking herself crisp &
as orange as barbecued chicken---
after the prom & all of the
comments on her appearance which
beef up her ego,
she decides that this look has to be the one that stays &
on & on
the routine continues throughout the year
cooking herself
until a perpetual nonhuman glow
emits from her body 24/7 &
at home, at night,
nobody needs a night light anymore,
because she can lead the way through the dark
like a light stick that has just been cracked
before being flung around at a rave---
inviting all the basal cell cancer, squamous cell
carcinoma & melanoma,
she goes to sleep displeased with her natural beauty,
bathed in a tangerine tint &
dreams of better days when she can walk in cali
with her head held high.