You can’t bring your heart to school
if there’s a boy in it
the same as you.
              No mothers, even imaginary ones,
have wives
in Charlotte County, Florida. Penguins
live alone and far away
                       on the flat ice
that’s shrinking like a girl
stuffed in a locker.
                        Names come
in two sizes, books are covered
in mud or sugar
               and manuals
on how to be a [blank] person
cannot be hidden
                      inside your clothes.
Emily is Nobody
and Abe never shared
his bearded honesty with Speed
in his bed.
            Don’t snap
your fingers, butterfly
boy bestie, your whispering sisters
will have to get along
                    without
your paper to copy
the unspeakable thing
Claggart was willing
to die to say to Billy.
                    Behold, Simba
without Scar. Ariel’s voice was never
lost to the rough embrace
of the tentacled witch.
                    All quiet
on every front. The librarians
don’t need to purse their lips
                               and the worms,
unwed as fingers
of children holding a rope
to stay in line,
                still tunnel their script
into the dirt.