Happy Valentine’s Day to the 
f***er who put the 
$7 Glitter Dollz at a three year old’s 
eye level 

We just needed toothpaste which is 
becoming increasingly harder to find in the city
are times so hard that
people are not brushing their teeth
as much

Well
I get it

We are not brushing our teeth as much 
because hygiene is hard 
and timing is everything 
and everything is hard

But these challenges 
are what make us special
and also what makes us special is my
unwillingness to have a disastrous 
stand off in the 
dollar store
right before a fancy day

I laid out my argument and then
I saw that 
her spirit had temporarily left her body to
defend her position at the crossroads of desire and 
determination and

that intersection is an over my dead body kind of 
place where
the dead body always tends to 
be mine
valentine

Three days later my daughter is
still besotted with
“She doesn’t have a name yet!”
Glitter Dollz

Pale and sharp elbowed and beaming
she sleeps 
every night on the pillow
between us

I stare up at the ceiling pondering
my children’s iron will 
the stickiness of our needs
and the steady softening of my
candy heart