A Child Learns to Write
A poem of Childhood
By Cynthia ScottPublished about a year ago • 1 min read
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Photo by Jess Zoerb on Unsplash
One summer,
my sister’s friend
knocked her down
in our neighbor’s
driveway,
and accused her
falsely
of stealing her
Barbie doll.
My sister
dropped
to the ground,
hands bracing
her fall,
her head limp
as an overripe melon,
while her friend
jabbed a
finger
at the air
between them.
Humiliated and defeated,
my sister steadily,
but awkwardly
got to her feet and
walked home.
I followed
behind her,
my hands
heavy and useless.
Later that day,
in the mud beneath
our ivy-choked backyard gate,
I wrote:
“I hate her”---
My lonely act of
Solidarity.
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