Revised Piece- backwards

5. When you are old, when your body has been split open with the force of years, you stand in the ocean for the first time. You think about sinking. The salt water rises around you. You open your mouth.

4. In college you drank too much wine and followed a boy up to his room. You didn’t know his name. His smell confused you: oranges and spice. He placed his hands on your shoulders and guided you to your knees. He said, open your mouth.

3. When you were in high school, your uncle died, a violent death, the details of which you are never be able to face. (Not for years.) At his wake you stood by the trays of funeral food and asked the caterer things like, do you avoid color? Is it appropriate to serve bacon at a funeral? Your mother fussed over you and told you to eat, so you picked something up. She watched until you opened your mouth.

2. At 8 your sister betrayed you. She spent the afternoon peeling grapes and putting them into kleenex boxes. She tied a blindfold over your eyes and led you by the hand. You followed in darkness. The grapes felt slimy in your small fingers, and you shuddered with horror. She told you to open your mouth.

1. You were born blue and still with an umbilical cord around your neck. Your father had his back turned; your mother will closed her eyes. Later your mother cradled you to her chest and tried to weep, but her eyes were too dry, so instead she laughed. She slowly unbuttoned her hospital-issue nightgown. You opened your mouth.

~ by raymunbro on January 30, 2008.