dipped_in_moonlight
ovenbird
I
’m
eleven
.
I
’m
outside
at
recess,
standing
alone
by
the
brick
wall
of
the
school
,
lost
in
some
interior
dialogue
,
when
the
world
explodes.
There
is
a
crash
of
impact
right
by
my
head
,
and
I
am
showered
in
malevolent quills
that
land
in
my
hair
and
get
in
my
clothes
.
It
takes
me
a
second
to
realize
that
a
girl
in
my
class
has
thrown
a
glass
bottle
at
my
head
.
She
missed
. Barely.
But
I
’m
now
dressed
in
the
sliver
sharp
glitter
of
her
hate
.
My
only
friend
escorts
me
to
the
school
bathroom
where
she
painstakingly picks
glass
out
of
my
hair
.
I
can
still
feel
her
gentle
fingers
working
around
all
the
places
where
contempt
is
threatening
to
slice
me
open
.
Sometimes
when
I
wake
up
in
the
middle
of
the
night
it
’s
because
I
’ve
heard
a
sound
of
shattering
that
seems
to
come
from
inside
my
own
brain
,
and
I
am
visited
by
the
shadow
of
eleven
year
old
me
who
glimmers
like
she
’s
been
dipped
in
moonlight.
I
shuffle
over
in
bed
and
make
room
for
her
.
I
pull
the
sheets
up
over
both
of
us
.
I
pull
glass
from
her
hair
like
a
meditation
until
we
both
fall
asleep
.
250507
...
nr
this
is
beautiful
.
250508
...
ovenbird
Thank
you
, nr!
250508
what's it to you?
who
go
blather
from
