Holiday Cheer ~By Mindi Willie~

Twenty-two tikes
Adorned with high peaked ponytails
Full of endless ringlets,
Perfectly pinned to their tiny heads
With Goody Bobby Pins,
Completed with a boisterous bow,
Fiercely fighting their way through
A substantial sea of hairspray,
Using sticky fingers to guide
Themselves towards a familiar maternal face,
To add to the color on their fervent faces
Already full of foundation and oily rouge
On top of crisp crimson cheeks
From cruel coldness outside
Eyelashes laced with black mascara
From mom’s make-up collection
Twenty-two mothers lead
Twenty-two tikes
To the dimly lit backstage
An announcement, twenty-two shrieks,
Then they’re all on stage,
Glaring into the bright light.