I’m so happy
that you’re younger,
gone to sleep on linoleum
near the stove
so stoned / sleepy I’m so happy
you hit me / single, perfect
that stutter summer wrong
my hair came back in
black & silk as violin goodnight poison
ivy / goodnight to the moneyed
Connecticut & their gin mouths
pale, he hit me
& I didn’t flinch handsome prize
for him to bite & bend (see, real
enough gold)
for fracture what fresh hell // to fall
apart, a ruined doll—one eye twitching
(bruised) let’s play house:
bourbon
puddled around my teeth, Bible
sure as a pistol, air mattress
slick with his women
everybody knows I’m so happy
to be young & reckless I’m so happy
the sun came up still
corny & yellow / I’m so happy
we’re here we woke up, two tangled snakes
by water so rough it must be a man,
must be my ticket home
that totaled motorcycle // I could’ve died
recover? I didn’t / I went back & back
can’t try to & back again
& don’t my body was never
knife enough
to cut me free of the privilege of being
kept close to a man who hates
everything he touches so long as he can’t stop
touching me, I’m safe from strangle
no, I won’t go swimming or slowly dipping into my own madness
no, I’m not your baby
anymore
