Because you were loved and resented<\/p>\n
and read to and fed. Because someone<\/p>\n
bought you books when you were good.<\/p>\n
Because you were used by grown-ass<\/p>\n
men. Because you never told and then<\/p>\n
you did. Because your mother let you wear<\/p>\n
her perfume. Because you didn’t fall<\/p>\n
from the water tower in that speck<\/p>\n
of a town and you didn’t die later<\/p>\n
in the reservoir drunk on sloe gin.<\/p>\n
You never had to learn to walk again,<\/p>\n
there’s no cancer yet and your family<\/p>\n
didn’t take vacations. Because you rode<\/p>\n
in the bed of pickup trucks fast enough<\/p>\n
to feel the sting of your sister’s hair<\/p>\n
on your face. Because your father<\/p>\n
was a drunk. Because you were poor.<\/p>\n
Because your mother said so. Because<\/p>\n
she said no. Because you snuck out.<\/p>\n
Because you left. Because you fell in love<\/p>\n
with a man and again with your children.<\/p>\n
Because your dog died in your arms.
\nThe fires are close. There are mud slides,
\nboulders losing purchase\u2014a million
\nbrutal ways for loved ones to leave you.<\/p>\n
There’s a debt you’ll never pay down,<\/p>\n
and it’s not that you know there’s honor<\/p>\n
in trying, only that you were taught<\/p>\n
by kind people who did their best,<\/p>\n
to be grateful for what you have<\/p>\n
and what you don’t and sometimes,<\/p>\n
to ask for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Because you were loved and resented \/ and read to and fed … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2555,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[6,497,498,499,500],"class_list":["post-2554","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry","tag-aquifer-the-florida-review-online","tag-growing-up","tag-karen-harryman","tag-why","tag-womanhood"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n