The debutantes are like doves

when you were born / in a passive red sluice

some hot providence asked the palms to move


Heaven’s ferns peeled back / to give you an orange

from the groves of Orlando / light flooded the tidal


marshes / in a place south-er than south / afternoon

sun presses through Spanish moss / I don heels


from Kohl’s / a baby blue dress / become a woman

in the community center / all these lives around me

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Charlotte Foreman is a writer and educator in Davie, Florida. She received her B.A. in Written Arts from Bard College in 2020. She is the English editor-in-chief of the international cultural criticism magazine The Swings and is currently completing a 200-hour yoga instructor training. Her work has previously been included in Yew! Magazine and Waterproof: Evidence of a Miami Worth Remembering, published by Jai Alai Books.