Parallel lines were the solution in geometry.
Pickles. Bloating. I felt blue instead of seeing red.
Last month I felt an urgency to puke shards of glass
which gutted my body and told me to say goodbye to an angel.
Bodies intertwined that night. Warmth surrounded and filled
the emptiness I call my heart. Your mama made love, little one,
you were mine today but I have to give you away.
 
Mama works three jobs without a tassel and cap. Daddy left
the money under his bed. It disappeared and he says I have to
dance in snowflakes with men who don’t know my name.
In this moment you hugged my belly. Warm. I was hit every night
with a realization that your presence wouldn’t ignite our flame.
And I sometimes wonder if you are a boy or girl. It hurt so much
not knowing. He didn’t care. It’s fine, little one, he’s just running errands.
 
A few hours turned into days then to weeks. I have to do it,
little one. I’m sorry. Forgive me. Please. I love you.
He said he would come back and marry me but
that’s over now. My tears trembled in pain and turned into
icicles. A blizzard hit my chest and the fire went out.
I wish I could have you but the world says no. I am alone
tiptoed on a cliff in negative thirty degrees Fahrenheit. Falling.
 
The lady was very kind with a warm welcome at the clinic.
She said the Mariana Trench didn’t want me anymore. Cold
men and women surrounded me when I left. Praising the man Himself
and a woman yelling ‘murderer’ in my face. Adoption, they ask.
Do they want you? Do they want to share the earth as you bloom? I do.
But I can’t. You have to trust me, little one. I will protect your soul
by letting you fall asleep with a flickering flame. You will be warm.

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