In reckoning for an anatomy 

I had no choice in bartering, I give back 

all of me that makes me prey

 

                      I. Soak the pleated skirt in lactose 

1. 1. fold it like a braided loaf at the river’s edge
   2. scrub all the dress from it until it is wittled into 
   3. jean shorts torn at the knees

 

                      II. Don the cape of your fathers name 

1. 1. wear it like a fish wears its bones 
   2. taught under the skin, a bow made from 
   3. sinew and loose blood 

 

                    III. Release the arrow in whatever direction

1. 1. your girlhood is turning its back
   2. a wistful prayers to the river God
   3. an offering of your own limb 
   4. made ghost
   5. made paper
   6. wandering into the woods of spit and dirt

 

                    IV. High mud femme

1. 1. snaking through the belly of the creek
   2. venomous in its nowhereing 
   3. my scales are matted eyes unblinkable 
   4. rocks under the foot of my femininity 
   5. bruising the soft flesh of a well-mannered girl 

 

                    V. Hiking up her skirt at the mouth 

1. 1. of the lake. her waterlogged reflection 
   2. drowns with a curtsy and a wink
   3. the boy leavens from deep within 
   4. her foam. the first thing to raise – 

 

                    VI. his voice. Followed by his fists.

1. 1. aren’t I a Man now? aren’t I big
   2. enough to be unquestioned in my gait?
   3. to be worthy of a fight or a fuck?
   4. to be feared and unafraid? 

 

                    VII. Boyhood has been killing 

1. 1. the soft in me slowly 
   2. what begat toxicity of my sopping bones 
   3. what begat the bloody knuckles and the bleach
   4. what begat the mask – 
   5. the beer bottle excavating the drywall

 

                    VIII. In what recipe am I not suffering 

1. 1. how can I stir the wet ingredients 
   2. my girlish tears
   3. my pink-soaked joy
   4. my plush laughter 
   5. into the rock hard 
   6. into the bone dry
   7. into the boy