Somewhere Thuban Is Fading

For Carolina Ebeid We enrolled at barbizon Knowing full well We’d never look like What was promised Cue carol of the bells Cue a demo on the casio And the security of two-way Escalators setting the speed Those early mornings In our mall school The store’s silver grills Some mannequins left Half-clothed We’d taunt them With our imagined summers In london paris rome We weren’t please and thank you Walking with books on our heads No we were going to devastate Greek shipping heirs At every port of call Yet when our bus broke down And we trudged the shoulder Of highways Single file Dodging cigarette butt and horn We shook off those mornings Studied Their defenseless Indifference The blinding surface The quality of electric Without being alive We knew that there In only hot pants The ideal form Plastic Most would take a bullet for While at 16 We were already trash-talking Our prayers never went beyond The second floor Light-years away From the last word That distant somewhere Where a boat loses course The north star forsaking Its name to another