Yours was the name I used to let others know I was young.

— After a concert, a virgin is handed a mic and walks
into the noise of things known at the time.
Access Hollywood asks the 13-year-old: Would you do anything
Britney Spears did? Yes, I answer. Do you love Britney Spears? Yes.
If she, say, started a makeup line, would you buy it? If I wore makeup, yes.
But that’s not for littler kids. I’m thanked off screen.

It’s okay if nothing is beneath that but there they are: the gears beginning.
Littler is not a word, my friends laugh. I am told beauty will fix it.

Lauren Hilger is the author of Lady Be Good (CCM, 2016) and Morality Play (Poetry NW Editions, Summer 2022). She serves as a poetry editor for No Tokens.

Marie Pop is the pseudonym for the collaboration between Anique Weve and Inge Aanstoot. Marie Pop is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Their work consists of mixed media pieces, often combining photography and painting.