I know the day I won
A silver watch in school
Then came home with my father
To tell my mother her mother had died.
I know the way
My mother slapped him
And let her nails
Linger. Bleeding.
He smiled to teach me:
We slap whom we love.
I know a boy and a turtle
Each time he held it, it withdrew.
And my aunt was a sea
And two borders removed.
I know the summer she spent waiting
For a visa, sitting in bed, knees
Bent to hold a book she was reading.
No one had told her
Her mother had died.
When she arrived
She smiled and kissed me.
I said nothing. She wailed and
My uncle slapped her once.
I know the sisters wanted
And the boy also wanted.
To see the body
Inside its shell.
There were shovels by the grave.
There was an axe in the garden.
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