Sara

i

We typed the word clitoris into Google

and found a numbered diagram,

then spent hours with a small mirror,

comparing.

ii

That one night when Sara

got into a car with a boy,

we all knew it was a mistake.

No one said anything when she

walked back smiling, limping.

We sat there ruined,

watching her clean the blood

from her skirt with spit.

iii

In the lunchroom, Hussein tells us

what it felt like for him. We’re mesmerized.

Imagine, he says, pointing to my mouth,

pushing an entire finger

into the gap

between your front teeth.

The girl beside me shudders.

You know she begged me? Even though it hurt

she still begged me, kept whispering:

make me normal, please

make me normal, open me up.