When she was born, they said,<\/p>\n
You are small.\u00a0 Remember this.<\/p>\n
Feel these safety pins<\/p>\n
anchoring our strings in your palms.<\/p>\n
She said,<\/p>\n
So far, I\u2019m just watching.<\/p>\n
When she began to walk, they said,<\/p>\n
Keep your chin down and<\/p>\n
carry this urn on your head<\/p>\n
like your very own<\/p>\n
porcelain pitcher enclosing<\/p>\n
the flower of your worth.<\/p>\n
She said,<\/p>\n
I often trip.<\/p>\n
Out.<\/p>\n
They kept her in Rapunzel\u2019s room;<\/p>\n
but when her eyes reached the sill,<\/p>\n
she clambered down that iron<\/p>\n
and gulped urine-yellow phrases<\/p>\n
off the sidewalk:<\/p>\n
Dig it, people,<\/p>\n
a soul can dance only<\/p>\n
to its own beat.<\/p>\n
They said,<\/p>\n
Shit. Already the street dirt.<\/p>\n
Take the brand and<\/p>\n
shove it up.<\/p>\n
Bind her up, they said,<\/p>\n
She grew curiously calm and she grew<\/p>\n
curiously taller, wore<\/p>\n
pink gloves and cast-iron pantyhose,<\/p>\n
spoke only when she was<\/p>\n
spoken to, saying<\/p>\n
I am studying. You are my models.<\/p>\n
Your every syllable and sign<\/p>\n
is stamped on my skin.<\/p>\n
They were pleased, gave more play to the leash, said,<\/p>\n
So long as you are good,<\/p>\n
you may go and come.<\/p>\n
This is called Freedom.<\/p>\n
She said,<\/p>\n
I want one of that and<\/p>\n
two of those and I want them<\/p>\n
now.<\/p>\n
They said,<\/p>\n
You are doing well.<\/p>\n
But her body parts grew unruly,<\/p>\n
began leaping, would not<\/p>\n
stoop to their tasks.<\/p>\n
Bind her up, they said,<\/p>\n
everything but the breasts.<\/p>\n
We like breasts.<\/p>\n
Make your own milk, she said,<\/p>\n
and even as they watched,<\/p>\n
she embedded herself in their<\/p>\n
newmown cement and fell silent.<\/p>\n
Bang as they might, her skin<\/p>\n
made no sound.<\/p>\n
Sometimes though,<\/p>\n
oh, every full moon or so, comes a thuck<\/p>\n
of a sound, like unstuck footsteps, going<\/p>\n
suck-er-u, suck-er-u, suck\u2026<\/p>\n
But of course they are certain<\/p>\n
they must be mistaken.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Patricia Brooks is the \u00a0former Managing and Fiction Editor of the Northwest Review<\/em> literary journal. \u00a0She has published two novels (Dell) and stories and poetry in a variety of print and on-line publications. Her newest novel is \u00a0Whose Little Girl Are You? <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When she was born, they said, You are small.\u00a0 Remember this. Feel these safety pins anchoring our strings in your palms. She said, So far, I\u2019m just watching. When she began to walk, they said, Keep your chin down and carry this urn on your head like your very own porcelain pitcher enclosing the flower [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[120],"class_list":["post-2720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-silverpoint-by-lori-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2720"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2896,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions\/2896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}