he slept in my bed after i filled his body with
insects & panic & grandfather sewn seeds
i was useless inside him; trade organs for oceans
is there a vaccine for this?
to clean out all the unborn kids
he broke me good where the landlord left scars
emptied all the bedrooms to reclaim the stretchmarks
we were to our throats in grass
we tore down the treehouses
and our brothers were kindling for the lovesongs that we couldn't sing
because we drowned all our songs in the bathtub
you could hear them way up in the rafters
and the preachers sleeping in the attic
stole them all for scriptures
we sing nothing, now, our mothers ask us how
we pray with the lights out for sings to fill our mouths