LAUGHING WHEN I SHOULDN’T SMILE

The internet told me to ask a man

not one single question

this month

it told me this is the month

to keep that for

yourself

I can’t not laugh

that’s the air in me coming out

to meet the sliver sky

when it shimmies down

to kiss the mud

Birthday girl

The birthday girl
shared her sweet sixteen,
I think.
The razor wire of the Napanoch prison
wasn't far off.
Inside, streamers and hula hoops.
We worked on our flirtatious antagonism,
if there were boys there,
which I think there were.
Of course,
our hot breath in the winter air,
our whispers held aloft.