MV Reel: Iconic ’00s Girl Groups

by Ploy Jarungpiterah

After Sylvia Plath

Were you birthed

in a Y2K pod, from a swinging

titanium womb? We make new

girls from sugar cubes.

Stop crying. You’re nearly 13.

Popped cherry

lip gloss and public

midriff reels. You’ll make grown

men swoon. Still flat

but we have double chain

stitches for that.

Are you willing?

Open your hand. Unlined

and empty? Empty.

Make your head an empty jar

we’ll toss coins in.

Living avatar, smiling

content stream.

It can dance, it can tout,

it can sing, sing, sing.

You’re a confectioner’s dream

sucking candy apples

in a sherbet pink camisole.

In five years you’ll be gold,

in eight, diamond.

Did you undersign it?

Yes yes yes, you chose it

for yourself.

Your wire mother too.

You were standard

capture, an image

inside an eye.

Fireproof, ageproof, proof

of concept and naked

as a flash drive. If we drop

and break it

we’ll build another one.

If we build it will you

worship it? If we build it

you will worship it.

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Ploy Jarungpiterah is a Thai-Chinese Canadian poet who was also raised in Australia and Thailand. Her poems have been published in journals such as The Malahat Review, Cordite, Grain, EVENT, and Rattle. She has a forthcoming chapbook with Anstruther Press in 2026.