| InterBoard Poetry Competition | |
SEVENTEEN
Lori Williams
(MiPo Zine & Board)
She wants to rip her tongue out
slowly, with pliers or maybe
the sharp knife from her kitchen set
slicing down the layers to the first one,
before the unforgivable,
the skin of pink that licked
his father's dick with her eyes closed,
wishing she were somewhere else
but she was there and that night
a seed of fear was sown
in her womb, vodka-drenched
and salty. She tried to make it work
with yellow and teal borders for the nursery
that she did herself. She scrubbed her stomach
in the bath and hoped for a girl, olive like her,
nothing hanging between joy and despair. A boy
is what she had, and she loved him, kissed
his penis with open eyes -- he was hers.
The tongue of seventeen years ago has flattened
and there is no plumping of it -- he's gone away
and she is left with knives and pliers,
a limp mother's tongue,
wishes of death for dads and moms
and olive skinned children.
Forgive her.
Judge Christine Reed’s comment: “Disturbing in its honesty, the victim begs forgiveness in this classic theme.”
About the InterBoard Poetry Competition
Archive of IBPC Winners
3rd Place Winner, November 2002
