I am sorry I am woman
Sorry for the cicadas
that rose
from my chest. Animals
that hibernated for thirteen years
then ruined
your summer.
Sorry for each freckle
on my shoulder
chocolate chips dripped
into the batter.
Sorry the High School banned
tank tops
so you could concentrate
on your math.
Sorry I grow
hair
like you
under my arms
up my calves.
Sorry that even in television commercials
for women’s razors
it’s always a bare, bronzed leg
being shaved.
Sorry I’m not
already all the way removed.
Sorry for the suffragettes
my rowdy sisters.
Sorry the dinner is delicious
but you’ll have to do the dishes.
Sorry for walking
down the street
wearing that
skirt.
Sorry for the minutes
it took out of your workday
to gawk like that.
To say those things.
Sorry I didn’t say thank you.
I thought you were going to
kill me.
Sorry I keep my mail
front door
apartment key
between each of my fingers
when I walk.
A pincushion where the sharp sides
point out. Sorry I bled
on your couch.
Sorry I didn’t
tell you, flipped
the cushion upside-down.
Sorry I say sorry so much.
Sorry you got fired
for grabbing my ass
of course
it belonged to you
like the candy
on my desk.
Sorry for all the ridiculous laws
of gravity too.
I’m sure
my breasts
are very happy
to see you.
Sorry you liked breast milk so much.
Sorry I fed you in public
and let everyone know
you loved a woman then.
Sorry I was your first
home and didn’t leave
my body open
for you
to crawl
back in.
Sorry that the egg that made me
came from inside my mother
when she was inside her mother.
Sorry for all this forever.
Sorry you’re on the outside
of the joke. Sorry
I bled on your couch
and I didn’t turn over
the cushion
this time.
