closing the door behind me /
down the stairs / I run / so I can
smile and twirl / real sweet once more /
for Dad / and his new wife
to dance / in their still-fresh
pride of the new high school graduate
where is she, Dad asks
I tell him
she is upstairs
tell him
we’ll only be a few minutes
tell him
this is my house too
his new wife looks and sucks her teeth
upstairs, one of the first, down here the last
my baby brother off playing and oblivious
and suddenly I know somewhere
it’s written, somewhere it says
my mama shouldn’t be here