Her mouth
Had a tremor
Just beneath the surface
It spoke
Of the repression of horror
If she let it out
That creature would
Climb to the highest point
And start screaming, needful not of words.
She wrapped her arms around her chest
Feeling the absence of one breast
Her mom used to say
You forgot to grow into a woman, flat chested sparrow chick
Her boyfriend liked her angularity
It’s not very Latino, her sister decried
Shaking her own ample swelling bossom
She favored simple necklines and no bra, catching soft balls with callused hand
Then why she wondered
Did my breast betray me?
I never demanded anything of her
My children did not
Tug with hungry mouths on her unduly
Nor a lover, bite unkindly deep
She felt the tight, smooth scar
Like a flat knife lain on her chest, like unwanted medal
It seemed to hotly whisper
The curling, metal irony of us all
Without sufficient power to stave
Fate’s random cruelty
(For all women)