Your great aunt used to make me dragon costumes,
It made me feel like she was my aunt, too.
I’d keep them in my costume cabinet,
And wear them until the zipper barely closed
And the legs couldn’t stretch below my knees.
We used to play a game we named “bowling pins” with your dad.
We would stand on your parents’ bed,
Which was something we normally weren’t allowed to do,
And he’d roll over and we’d jump over him,
Or we’d fall onto the soft bedding
And beg him to do it again.
Once when we used to take baths together,
I wore a scuba mask to submerge my face in the water.
You placed your thumb over my breathing tube,
And when I came up for air,
I was ready to kill.
For a long time, the only thing we wanted to play was “pet shop,”
And we lived in your couch’s cushion fort.
There was a point when the only thing you wanted to do
Was to pull at my underwear to try to get me to pull up yours, too.
I didn’t like that, so I stopped seeing you.
Endure or leave,
That time it was new.
I remember when my older sisters made us kiss,
And your little brother was jealous of you.
You stuck your tongue into my mouth,
You laughed so I tried to laugh, too.
What a terrible thing to do.
What a terrible thing to do.