North of Adult’s Way

She sat beside her mother,
that bored teenager.
She’s natural beauty bound.
She yawned and frowned.

She’s not interested at all
in what the speaker
was trying to say.
Success stories her mind
wouldn’t want to reach.

She has all the cliches:
dark blonde hair,
teenager t-shirt
with mosaic pants.

She picked her fingers while
peeping over her mother’s phone.
What is she texting?
No pics. No emoji. None.

For a moment, her only comfort
was the sense of irrelevance
by sitting there but
not being present. Yawn.

She was standing beside
a post-event conversation,
legs crossed, arms wrapped.
Definitely. Not. Interested.

She passed by, revealing
her father’s rough face.
She’s no beauty at all.
Just a girl north of adult’s way.

{END}

Her Older Self Wouldn’t Recognize Her Twisted Face

Her Older Self Wouldn’t Recognize Her Twisted Face
by Fanz Hugo

Her older self
wouldn’t recognize
her twisted face.
It’s a maze.

She’s running,
on bare legs,
towards a
little boy-

her brother.
Annoyance
and delight,
all at once.

Her elder
sister follows,
too bored to
care. She knows.

She won’t
remember:
her face twisted
from hunger.

{END}