The sisterhood of Grade 5

Will tell stories under butterfly sheets

Flashlights bleeding through the cotton

High on hormones and pixie sticks

_Light as a feather, stiff as a board_

Their nights will be full of whispered karaoke

Gel pen tattoos, and spinning soda bottles

They’ll stay up far too late

Inventing new constellations

And laughing at the names

Then they’ll rest, uncharacteristically quiet

Inside sleeping bag cocoons

They’ll wake up the next morning

Adolescence echoing through the halls

They’ll return to the social heirarchy

With heat-damaged hair and press ons

As they grow, under fluorescent lights

And learn to dissect their differences

Then they’ll migrate, each to their own cities

That’ll scare away the stars

And the way they had once seen them

Because their constellations live in the dark

Under butterfly sheets