can’t deny it was one

of our better ideas to turn

the table into an altar

where my abortion

took place

(having no living

room, everything we did

happened in the kitchen)

I wouldn’t have trusted anyone

other with this                     pre-life

than you, cleaning instruments

and blessing me to keep

smiling: I have never been

the best person of all, but I was

always a                  person

(my breathing is proof of

a                     self, my unreliable

blood, an inconstant ownness)

you worked inside

and pulled me out of it