sucker   we all wanted to screw the substitute, he was the only dude, running the halls of our all girl school, and every time he passed by, we’d drop our pencils bending over just to make him cry, wearing our little, short, catholic school skirts, knowing the games we played were barely anything a…

smile, kindly, in self-defense   i brace before my bff, Mike, the detective, talks, especially around the holidays,   the conversation often begins with a compliment, something along the lines of, “Babydoll, you know i love your smile, but remember…”   then he’ll go on to inform me, for the umpteenth time, that crime and…

conversation with a dull razor   go back to the sting of disillusionment you know so well, and don’t let me catch you cavorting with the sacred on this side of hell anymore— just a reminder that a demon, like you, rearing its ugly head is more sincere when left on the corner of crystal…

birthday suit   bobby pins falling all over the floor— you’d pulled them out, one by one, with your teeth, jokingly asking, how many more of these, Sugar?   that’s when i shook my wild locks free, losing the nude dress too, to what felt like the arms of winter, daring me to go skinny-dipping,…