Tears creep backwards—
I hear you, a newborn rising
From the pit latrine’s feet
To another child’s uterus.
Your mother, thirteen and thin,
Throws her stomach from stench
Tiptoes rearwards to her room
Dawn darkens under your daddy.
Midnight rewinds into twilight
The sun stands up in the west;
Your dad’s cigarette elongates from ash
Lengthening, growing longer between lips.
Puddles return themselves to rain clouds.
Like a cassette, you crawl to yesterday—
Fetus to embryo, your family eats rape.
Tears retreating, the teenager turns twelve.
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