Poetry: On Point By Niki Perez
On Point
~from a
dead prima ballerina
I wished
for less silk
wrapped
around knees
like
ribboned orchids and Nestum
the smell
bothered
me
and
knowing
dad’s life
centered
up a few
bones
He broke
you
and
me
as
nutcrackers do
took his
swan blackened
with rice
and beans
my
heart
my photos
times two
to score
a Giselle a Jezebel a coroner
walk
into a bar
it’s
funny
Laugh
I died
that day
not to
forgive
No
more
curtsies backstage
Mad
your
father
cooked my
soul
then
danced on my brain
a ballet
shoes in
mud
now kids
this is
how you teach girls to love
Niki
Perez is a former
commercial real estate underwriter turned editor and storyteller. She builds
poems where memory gets strange. A mom and menace to bullshit, she believes in
voices you don’t have to explain. Instagram: