tolerance, normality, and growing up too fast

In the schoolyard down the street
the little girls jump rope
for hours and hours
chanting about eachother's momma's,
superman, kingkong, and bubblegum.

Some of them are dressed in sundresses
others in jeans or shorts,
one of them, Mary, I think,
with blonde hair in two braided ponytails
is dressed in a bright orange sari

how she jumps rope in that
I don't know
but she sings louder than all the rest
and her laughter carries all the way to the river.