TATTLETALE

Don’t be a pussy

they said

Suck it up

  they told me

Like a man

they repeated

until walk it off, it’s only

a scratch, I’ll give you something

to cry about became a simple

tourniquet. As a toddler,

stitches closed shut my scalp.

I hung from a dog’s mouth,

flaccid as a rooster’s wattle.

I was mauled. Still scarred by

teeth. Like any good secret,

I was carried for only so long.

Eventually after trauma

you’re expected to laugh, build

a birdhouse, collect stamps.

I used to have to get drunk,

watch Twilight or When Harry

Met Sally to cry. A name

contains destiny and history.

My name means beloved

but some things can’t be

loved. Liar, liar teepee

and pants on fire, all my

Yaqui beads traded. Nick

nack paddy whack, dogs

fight over the bone. Wee wee,

Piggy cried all the way home.

Memory nips my head. Hush

lil baby. What punctures child

hood quicker than being

bathroomed, whispered to

suck it.