To say exasperation out loud
is equal to one breath out,
two breaths in.

I’m telling you; a country
can take out your teeth.
It is possible to keep a body
from turning frail without a body
being designated for labor. An obit-
uary for my mother in the office
magazine says she work-
ed till the last day,
as if this must be celebratory.
My uncle says I did not get her job
because I’m a girl.

Now, I won’t use
an abstraction
to describe a girl.

Without range, the body is lightning, its breakage.
The body is lightning without range, its formation.