untitled

my brother had no name the first two weeks of his life
my mother and father raged up and down the staircases
onto the porch and lawn shouting names at each other
my brother the tiny plastic bracelet on his wrist baby Hamm
listless and cold in his crib up in the attic I stuffed toys in
through the bars to keep him company until all I could see
was his tiny fish mouth moving the tiny plastic bracelet
on his wrist I’ve been told names attach our souls to our
bodies when I think of my brother now I remember those
first two nameless weeks he hovered upstairs from me and
I think that’s when the trouble started

___________________

The reading was fun and fantastic and the other readers were, wow, and ooh, and eek that's quite intense and makes my skin crawl (a little) and then I realized there's a reason women don't wear corsets anymore and started having trouble breathing and had to ... depart. Quickly.