*

*

for Michelle

oh, how you wept

telling how your mother

refused to accept

your love for girls

*

she sent you away

for conversion therapy

electroshock and solitary

she prayed for you each day

*

you left Texas after high school

moved to the Coast

broken-hearted, the cruel

years trained you tough

*

surgeons fixed your heart

implanted a pig’s part

you fixed your direction

to heal your soul’s separation