There wasn’t much I couldn’t hide
with sleeves, a pair of tights
and a forged note from home:
Allison can’t do PE today
because blah blah blah.
The teachers rolled their eyes
(unsympathetic to period pain)
and let me sit on the sidelines.
My classmates trampolined in their shorts and T-shirts,
front dropping,
somersaulting,
soaring
into the roof of the gym,
howling from the fun of it,
the freedom,
while I had time to plot
how to stay out of Dad’s way
that day
and give the blue bruises a chance
to fade to yellow.