Nos for the Proper Modern Southern Girl

Heather Steadham

donuts
Dr. Pepper
ice cream
bread
if it tastes good, spit it out,
my grandma said

miniskirts
eyeliner
Spandex
flats
you can’t catch a decent man
looking like that

glasses
bare face
naked nails
frowns
or do you want the boys to think
you’ll always turn them down?

tattoos
piercings
hair of pink
or blue
if God had meant for those to happen
he’d’ve made them born on you

skipping Sundays
names in vain
rock & roll
& drinking wine
a Christian girl just trusts the Book
and not her fallen, wicked mind

smiling in public
speaking to strangers
laughing out loud
(just what kind of message are you trying to send, anyway?)

Issue 9, 2017, pg. 43