raise her voice to several men
called them names I cannot repeat
names you should never call someone
you love
sometimes someone you love was me
when I wasn’t being called
ungrateful and/or a wench
I was a bitch
a little girl who dressed herself like
some little boy scraping and bloodying
her knees in the street
this is when I learn
a woman who fears no man, fears
nothing—not even the marking she
will leave on her child—not even the
one on me