Mouths and Fists

 Mouths and Fists by Carly Gates

At twelve we knew everything.
Sisters in spandex, we swung narrow hips in rhythm as we walked,
popped and puckered our lips with shimmering gloss,
smoked cigarettes and perched in magazine poses.

Sisters in spandex, we swung narrow hips in rhythm as we walked
into his room, toothy grins glowing in the black light.
We smoked cigarettes and perched in magazine poses,
watched his palm push her curls against his lap

on his bed, toothy grin glowing in the black light.
We thought we’d come for our first kisses.
Instead we watched him push her curls into his lap,
learned to make O’s with mouths and fists.

We thought we’d come for our first kisses,
popped and puckered our lips with shimmering gloss,
learned to make O’s with mouths and fists.
At twelve we knew everything.

About Carly Gates

Carly Gates is a high school English teacher at a school of the arts in South Florida and an MFA candidate at the University of the South’s School of Letters. Her poetry has been published in Flint Hills Review, Hawai’i Review, and So to Speak, among others. She is also the Sinclair Writing Award’s first place winner for adult fiction in 2015.

The Writer’s Wife