Pink

My house drips with a sticky glaze of pink
Weak confections, bubble gum and cotton candy, things my little girls
Were not supposed to be made of. I pry my mind open
Like I once believed it was. Before. Before hazy fuchsia light
Dimmed my sight, and fluffy tulle tangled my legs. I misjudged the princesses.
Powerful. No damsels in distress. They have taken over my world

With their tiny toes and narrow waists, they lord over my girls’ world
Luring them in with plastic baubles. I am disoriented, coated in pink
My opinions strong and rational do not hold sway with the princesses
Hypnotic, unblinking eyes, pointy painted nails sink deep into the flesh of my girls
Who are drawn like pathetic moths to dazzling sparkles of light
It’s scary. The pull is so strong. The Disney precipice gapes open

Like an angry wound, into which my dreams for their futures are splashed open
Driven, brilliant, hungry to learn, empowered to change the world
They could be anyone, do anything under the guiding light
Of my lofty aspirations, crushed to dust under an unforgiving spike of pale pink
It’s in the water I myself feed to the girls
Who turn from me. Blissfully trading their souls to the princesses

Cinderella, dust rag in hand, proves formidable, as do the other princesses
Whom I dutifully applaud. Though tears hover in my eyes, they are now open
Watching them spin and laugh, then kick the stupid shoes aside, for my girls
Realize they’d rather run free. After all, there’s a whole wide world
Out there to be conquered. Ski helmets mounted on tiny shoulders are shocking pink
Hot pink with the exhilaration of life. Like their eyes, blazing and alight

With pure joy. They own the mountain, on clunky ski boots, they are fast and light
And sturdy and serious, and I think I see the princesses
Eating their dust. Quiet, demure, the pathetically soft pink
No match for the vivid color in their cheeks. Eyes mischievous, minds open
To the possibilities of the wondrous world
The princesses folded in the corner, neglected at last, for my girls

Have found power in a different pink and have moved on. My girls
Ski, and dive deep into blue water, and hide in the dark with a flashlight
That illuminates a world
Cracked wide open and able to hold without conflict both worms and princesses
Their minds, so open
And mine considers finally the possibility of pink

It is their world, they own it, my girls
Including the feared pink, dark and light
Equal opportunity princesses, in their hands is the world cracked wide open