I’d rake my words across her skin
spit gum in her hair
and forgive myself because she
did the same and worse to me

when you’re a child, logic
is the enemy of pleasure
and age changes only the word
from “just” to “cruel”

this is the wheel I’m helpless
to break even when I know
to do better, be better, think better
even when time keeps turning

because in the end the pattern just repeats