Tonight's Poet Corner: One More Birthday

One More Birthday
by Belinda Roddie

She holds her head up as high
as she possibly can, kisses the neck
of her girlfriend and laughs at bad jokes,
all while remembering the blue necktie
with the saxophone on it that she wanted
to wear for the concert that night. But

her father hid it away where she couldn't
find it, and her mother scolded her for
wearing a shirt that, in her parents' view,
made her far too masculine for the mold
they had crafted for her to fit in at all times.

So for now, she waits for adulthood
to officially stamp her forehead so that
nothing can touch her. She is already
patient in a room with gray walls, where
her teacher smiles and talks warmly
about their wife without the fear of
consequences hanging over their head
like the blunted blade of a guillotine.