REASONS I HATE MY BIRTHDAY

 

1.    It is the day     I do not eat                     cake:       Mother says it     adds to    my         hips.
2.    It is the day     people tell me     I am now a     woman. I swear that happened years     ago.
3.    It is the day                  Mother makes me kiss                 Uncle.
4.    It is the day     I lost my virginity                                                       six                       years young.
5.    It is the day                   they sing to me               and                      scream at           me —
          a.    because good girls shouldn’t cry on their birthday.

 


 

SOFT WHILE RESTING
 
          This is the part  /   I cannot breathe         there is a moth / stuck
          in my throat / attracted to light                in / my stomach / &
          it breaks / down my esophagus into a jelly / that tastes of sour
          cottage cheese /  & ghost / peppers on sunday / when children
          play / & adults drink / vanilla / I scream but no sound / leaves
          / because the moth is trapped where it should / not be / & it
          got there in the first place /     I did not know / how to say /
                    stop,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                              please.

 


 

THE ANATOMY OF A DOLL
 
I bruise my barbie dolls
with markers & matches–
 
I cut her hair; he likes to touch
her rotator cuff, made of ball
& socket plastic.
 
I break off her right leg & break
down because she was so beautiful
until he told her she was
 
not like the other girls.