Noreen hopped around on
on toeless stubs of silicone feet 
We let go of her head to see
Her balance for a split second before 
She teetered over 
We tssk tssked her as she 
Fell two stories to backyard grass below
Implying how could she do such a thing? 
Is it normal for little girls to make 
dolls kill themselves 
by diving off balconies? Don’t 
answer that, actually.
Noreen still smiled postmortem &
had a habit of coming back to life 
for our next play date 
Maybe she’d be the early death
in our apocalyptic iMovie trailer
Or fall victim to your cataract eyed 
dog’s canine gnashers
Oh, sweet immortal Noreen!
I can’t imagine the storyline 
she’d get in Toy Story

A Cabrera's poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in The New Guard, Brain,Child Magazine, Colere, Acentos Review, The Berkeley Fiction Review, Best Travelers' Tales 2021 Anthology, Mer, Deronda, and other journals. Her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Award and adapted for stage by the Bay Area Word for Word Theater Company. She writes, teaches, dances and ride bikes in San Francisco, but not always in that order.