*culture is not optional

A Facebook Morning After

by L.L. Barkat

It started out innocent
enough. What did he know?
I felt so round and easy

in his palm, cool and brittle.
I must have seemed hard
boiled, ready to roll onto

The Wall. Anyway, he pulled
the corners of my mouth
into a smirk, then tossed

me up top to taunt the
tall guy who likes to joust
and flirt with ladies in

waiting. Everyone was there
when it happened, all the
kings horses (you know

how it goes) and all the
kings men, dashed me
to pieces again and again,

and I ask you, where does
it end? Even now some
dark-haired woman has

carted me to her blog
and is sorting, poking
through yolk and shell

to see what she might
leverage into a poem that
might be read in Guam.