Survival
       

Inside the pizzeria, love's latest news was carved
into the darkly stained surface of every table. The force
of blunt gray knives and shameless teenage muscle
creating a landscape of pique, impeccably done.
Caroline is a bitch. Liz and Tommy forever. Sheila likes pussy.
Later, my own name next to the words "Cock" and "Teaser."
I ordered salad and minestrone—pizza, I knew,
would be messy, one of the many tips I'd read in Seventeen
along with: Look interested. Don't disagree. And
Be yourself! My date ordered chicken, still on the bone.
There were others after this. Different names;
a father's borrowed cologne filling the air between us.
Eventually, making myself homely, shapeless,
anything to let the "No" come, instead, from them.

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Copyright © 2018 Lisa Dordal All rights reserved
from Mosaic of the Dark
Black Lawrence Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission