Posey Girl

She sits at the dining room table

waiting to turn eight.

Square windows do not allow enough light

for the flowers mother picked. They are wild,

loud petals.

Flowers blooming

like the ones stenciled on the edges

of the stationary mother clutches in her hand.

She waits upstairs, not ready to enter

her daughter’s next year.

The girl notices her reflection in the vase,

that her hair isn’t sitting

quite right,

like the present she opened early

from daddy. A dress

with a flower embroidered

where the pocket should have been.

No pocket for lollipops to share

or a note tucked close to her heart,

like the note tucked inside the card that says:

Smile! Today’s a special day!

Posies fall out when the girl unfolds

the vanilla paper.

She props the note against the vase,

and while the girl waits, she reads the writing

through the glass.