her existence
denied in local papers
an unnamed
girl of ten
is driven out of Texas
by her mother
to get a still legal
medical procedure
schools are closed
I walk to the park
trying to process what happened
a ten-year-old
doesn’t play with dolls
she explores the world
average weight 74 pounds
hips too narrow to deliver a full-term infant
I bury myself under the roots
of a giant oak. To cover the sounds
of my weeping. A scrum of kids
play tag in the meadow
Bonnie is published in POETRY, RHINO, Dunes Review, and Gyroscopic Review among other journals. Bonnie has been nominated for a Push Cart prize and the Best of the Net. Bonnie lives in Brooklyn with her family and her dog Drizzle. She is a retired landscaper and returned to her first love poetry.
