Friendship Circle

I remember the whole Girl Scout pledge
the handshake the two-finger salute
the circle we formed at the end
of our purposeful meetings there in the echoey gym
by crossing our arms over our stomachs
and joining hands even with Freya who already had
her period singing before we went home
Make New Friends in a round wanting nothing
except our rides our suppers our favorite shows but
squeezing the palm of the girl to the right
passing around the sacred gossip
until it came back as a nervous
boy’s fingers the first time inside a blouse
but tonight all of our living mothers
are waiting again for us in the parking lot
by the frozen track field listen
they have cranked their radios low
in the idling light each one of them
wearing the scratchy and crooked scarf
it has taken us weeks and weeks to knit.

©Copyright 2008 University of Nebraska Press. All rights reserved.