Yes, we did
ask to be born.
Not all of us, of course,
only the first few.
They must have bought in
to this round robin
duress:
the gasp,
the gnawing hunger,
then the actual gnawing.
Maybe they did it
the way we’d put on
a corset or toe shoes
one night
and feel fabulous.
To be able to repeat themselves
must have seemed
like such a thrill
at first.
But who were they
if not that trick—
that breathless
pirouette?
This Issue
August 20, 2020
130 Degrees
Stepping Out
A Horse’s Remorse