A young girl watches you

get out of the car at Wal-Mart

and thinks - one day

I want to be like that!  The pretty car,

the nice clothes, the expensive purse,

the perfect hair.

 You are the vision

she holds onto, cherishes

in her brokenness.

She will strive to become . . . You.

You are her symbol-metaphor

for success -- a chance sighting,

a living image of what it means

to have made it. . .

out of the fear of less,

out of the poverty of nothing,

away from the cold truth of being

inconsequential.