Mamma’s Kiss & Tell

you are invited to watch my undoing,
where you will hear stories about my
life and times, of my anger and resentment,
the shameless flirtations with random men.
you will know that during meals, i never sit
with the family because they morph into the
worst-case scenario that lives in my brain.
you will learn about afflictions that seem
permanent, that no one ever asks me
what it is like to be married because they
know i don’t consider myself so and only
see a slave, relegated to kitchen duty,
ready for their side stares and laughter.
they know me by a different name and
gather in hallways, whispering
‘simma down bitch’ so i hide my feelings
and offer cheerless congratulations for their
deadly stupidity and useless plans.
they erase me each day, and when they do,
i remember there is a serious thing i want
to do, which is exactly this: run alongside a
slow-moving, southbound train, get in and
be rocked to sleep in its empty hollows,
dreaming of flowers that grow in places
they aren’t supposed to.

Loukia Borrell is a first-generation American whose parents were born in Cyprus. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a journalism concentration, from Elon University. She is a former print reporter. Her poetry and essays have appeared in Pangyrus, Poetry Bus Magazine, Roi Faineant Press, One by Jacar Press, and elsewhere.