3/30

being 

everyone says shakespeare said it first,

how,

everyone teeters on the edge of being

and not being,

never more vulnerable than is socially necessary,

never more present than is essentializing-ly necessary.

mother, I said, drop me off at the corner.

mother, I said, under caked mascara,

fading around the edges,

hardly breathing:

let me appear.

daughter, she said, dropping me off at the corner,

daughter, she said, adrenaline shooting,

be, my baby, be.