I had a mean girl season in my youth – ethics
13, not above reproof. A new girl moved
in my neighborhood, model aesthetics
promiscuous as I was tiny, good, reproved,
beat, punished all the same. She spent the night
inside my house of shame. Witness to my dads’
eyes always on me. Decided to invite
two high school boys to just be bad.
While my parents were at work she had sex
with one inside my bed. The other showed
me, open door, this truth he said. Why it vexed
me so her freedom I can only guess — to know
I could have died found in this nude context.
I only told one cheerleader on the blacktop.
Burn books begin with whispers you can’t stop.

Kristin Garth is a Pushcart, Best of the Net & Rhysling nominated sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked journals like Glass, Yes, Five:2:One, Luna Luna and more. She is the author of seventeen books of poetry including Pink Plastic House (Maverick Duck Press), Crow Carriage (The Hedgehog Poetry Press), Flutter: Southern Gothic Fever Dream (TwistiT Press), The Meadow (APEP Publications) and Golden Ticket forthcoming from Roaring Junior Press. She is the founder of Pink Plastic House a tiny journal and co-founder of Performance Anxiety, an online poetry reading series. Follow her on Twitter: (@lolaandjolie) and her website kristingarth.com