Teen Genesis
We lay in my narrow bed of nails, / holding Tightly, tightly, almost one. / It’s not enough to assuage that hurt; piercing scream to the numb like a shot of adrenaline to the lame. / We do not learn from the experience so we each volunteer to be halved to negate the pain. / Pretty little tool of global humiliation, hairsplitting rules of initiation. / No trust left over after trials that make their purpose known long after you’ve failed them. / A garden for my grace, blood quest for purity attained in the bleaching of the most sublime mountain face. / Not even She could hold tightly enough. / “I’m winning,” I screamed. “I’m winning.” / I tire. / Earth shakes. / Through apple trees, through newly hatched centipedes, through dead leaves, and half blind dogs, / God whisperers: / “Rematch.” / Her laughter pierces the ozone not unlike a too proud mother’s backhanded compliment: purposefully sharp and impossibly unapologetic. / You should’ve seen your face. Tears sweet like honey. / Better than yesterday when tomorrow never came. / You cry your tears but no one / No one / ever promised you a second more than you got.