Kristin Garth

Your Father Buys A Pony But Not For You
for Audrey Horne and Laura Palmer 

Girls working at counters often daydream.
You clutch a tree-printed sweater, finger 
seams like lines of rough hands, desire a scheme.
Men buy bad girls ponies, muffle their 
screams. Cream colored creatures you cannot 
abide, only soon-to-be-dead girls dare 
to ride. Two towheaded manes men spot 
easily in the dark. Death, a pale horse,
awaiting menarche, anarchy 
it makes of female lives in puberty 
when friends become a father’s fantasy.

Kristin Garth

Kristin Garth is a Pushcart, Rhysling-nominated sonnet stalker. She is a Best of the Net 2020 finalist. Her sonnets have stalked journals like Glass, Yes, Five:2:One, Luna Luna and more. She is the author of 20 books of poetry including Candy Cigarette Womanchild Noir (Hedgehog Poetry Press), Flutter Southern Gothic Fever Dream (TwistiT Press), and Girlarium (Fahmidan Journal). She is the founder of Pink Plastic House, a tiny journal, and co-founder of Performance Anxiety, an online poetry reading series. Follow her on Twitter: (@lolaandjolie) and her website kristingarth.com.