Things a Girl Should Know
        (unidentified woman discovered July 21, 1980, in Eklutna, Alaska)
                                —After Tarfia Faizullah

Remember
                to keep your eyes open when you dance
                naked against a pole; the customers want
to pretend
                you move your body for them. Remember
                to buy heels so tall and sharp
they are daggers
                you can use to run down a man's body, catching
                against rib bones on the way. When you buy new clothing
it doesn't matter
                how short or tight, as long as you take
                it off. When a man wants to photograph you, ask him, ask him
if he's ever killed
                before. He will say no, but listen for the ratchet of breath
                in his chest, the way his pupils dilate under the club lights.
If he tells you
                to run, you will never be fast enough to escape
                the sight of his gun, the sharp tug of his knife.
He will bring you
                to the wilderness, the place where the ice crusts thick, to hunt
                you among the scrub. If you have sold your body to dance, or
the touch
                of someone's skin on yours, then when he parts your slit
                flesh, some will say this is your fault. But listen for the sound
of the river
                changing direction. This is the moment
                you hold your breath.

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Copyright © 2018 Aimée Baker All rights reserved
from Doe
University of Akron Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission