I wonder
Do crooked little girls grow into gnarled women
Knobby limbs curled defensively around frail body
Brittle brown trunk
Do crooked little girls grow into gnarled women
Do their leaves shrivel, crackle off splintered branches
At the mention of uproot
Does their bark grow thick
Prohibit pruning
Do crooked little girls grow into gnarled women
She kept two free
Held crumpled secret
Tucked amid the growth rings
Uncle touching wrong skin
She kept two free
Daddy would have murdered had
He learned years before
Do crooked little girls grow
Into gnarled women
Condom wrappers
scratch at young thighs
beneath cheap threadcount
A pillowcase tearsoaked with rhetorical questions
Do crooked little girls
grow into gnarled women
A rheumatoid forest
Perpetually awaiting autumn
