Are you sorry for the lies you told 
when you were eight?

I was not sorry for being a saber 
toothed tiger seated besides
Anthony Burke on my red dot--
licking my paw to intimidate him--
nor for stealing the last oreo
from Jackson Roberts lunch--
you all knew it was me-- 
Let me be-- feel-- smell like a river
washed in the creek water I was born in-- 
I still feel like I walk as a tall tale--
I am  the singer of the Allosaurus herd--
we eat Tyrannosaurus Rex
and I was late to school today
because I ran into a dragon--
he's my pet now and he's waiting
patiently in my closet-- no mom
I'm not feeding him the sunflower seeds--
I'm just sharing them with him
from a tea cup--
Let me be
I still sometimes
tell people what they want to hear
and the only thing you can know 
I mean anymore is  "I love you--
I love you, I love you,"
Not like a tall tale but like the
truth behind all of our mouths when
we were eight-- I don't think
we were capable of lies
I am a dragon slayer now-- a dragon
slayer and pixie and a girl
I can be a girl if you want me to be
I'll grow my hair long until 
I have to cut it off again in braids--
Rapunzel cut her hair to forget
the feeling of the prince who pulled it
down down down--
Let me be
When everything else fails I'll just 
be the saber tooth tiger seated
next to the boy
who is trying to be normal
while I try to be eight years old 
in the body of a person
who has never stopped lying about
dragon and dinosaurs 
still munching on sunflower seeds
in the closet.