ReAnimation: A Poetry Collection

So It Goes

It starts with small injustices

sleeping with friends and

reaping rewards that never had her

name on them

Then, it gets bigger

Costa rica in the winter months

and coming home at three in the morning

from here and there

Bragging and planting seeds that won't grow

laughing and dragging her fingers down my back,

razing confidence and making holidays

work

Feathers for Christmas

had never been so cruel

and every other stocking boasted

no vacancy

"Santa" didn't come that year

for anyone else

my dreams got shorter;

and I couldn't hear hooves on the roof

She couldn't do anything wrong

and I couldn't do anything

Silver tongues, gold teeth

lunches for two,

and not three. Or four.

None of them showed up to my move-in date

Shopping trips and no money

Weekend truancy and promises

truths were fabricated

for the use of exceptions

I became the exception

and nothing else

Tears and bruises,

crippled paper, and pens that don't work,

tacks in front of the bedroom door,

it all became my exception

it starts with small injustices

but not all at once,

the myth

becomes the idol

the idol becomes

the price of wit

and a sister that would

rather be ambitious than related

becomes a stranger or an enemy