You know, Maybe, It’s just me but I guess I just find it Funny That people say it’s girls who have loose lips When the boys at this table have mouths Like open caves With stalagmite teeth Bats come flying out
I guess, Maybe, It’s just my magic trick, The way I become invisible When the boys Sit down for dinner And they open up their backpacks And their gym bags And pull out butcher knives That shine like brand new quarters In the cafeteria fluorescents
I’m not sure, But maybe The churning of my stomach Is a sign That there’s sharks In these waters I feel my wet socks in my wet shoes as I jiggle my knee And watch the boys With their knives Start chopping up girls on the plastic top table
They cut slices off of Julia and Megan And Kara and lob them across the table to their friends Just Like the men at Pike Place Fish Market Fling whole salmon Into each other’s gloved hands I saw them do it When I went to Seattle once. I feel water climbing up my legs. I see a shark fin.
Did I blush red? Maybe, When the boy next to me catches Katie’s legs In his calloused hands And laughs a laugh that sounds like An out of tune violin They’re all laughing now, Like car horns and fire alarms Laughing about Katie’s legs And Kara’s *** And Megan’s hips And Julia’s **** It’s the ugliest orchestra I’ve ever heard
And perhaps, Maybe, I’m the only one who’s noticed, But we’re not in the cafeteria anymore We’re right there In that room In that bed In that moment With JuliaMeganKaraKatie And I don’t want to be there.
And I know, For sure, No maybes, That If JuliaMeganKaraKatie knew We were all here too In her room In her bed In her That she’d cry enough saltwater To flood the whole earth And wash it clean.
We leave the table Bones on the floor Shark boys clean their teeth with toothpicks My clothes are soaked All the way up to my neck.
-I never go in the ocean, I’ve seen the sharks when they frenzy.