times i lied about my age

1.
of course i told you i was 16--
as unlikely as a maple tree leaf
crumpled into a bundle of unspent nerves
-- drop me into the stream and name
the boat's voyage after my fall--
she was a peach pit--
sailed the body of an island
of diet coke cans--
i counted my ribs as
slim Jim wrappers-- 
you knew i was 14
but it feels better to be 
as improbable as 16 and
fall to the ground
in the carousel of a whirligig--

2.
14 women are enough to teach
us to dress up--
us down-- dress out
this skin layaway--
creep into
the maids costume on the coat hanger--
sacrifice the color of your lips--
hang as triangles--
as pyramids--

3. 
wake up from the sarcophagus
to announce 4,000 years
of being 19-- queen of melting
planets and a river carrying
shipwrecks lit
by birthday candles--

4.
call me the sun God
and strip me of the number 
of times i crawl on my
belly around the earth--
i'm 12-- as old 
as the skeleton of the bunk bed

5.
forget the days
you've measured yourself in
tablespoons of stream--
i want to build
an age out of candles lit
under my bunk bed--

6.
don't catch the sheets on
fire again--

7.
my father eats birthday cake for
breakfast-- cream cheese icing
on a butter
knife and fist of double chocolate 
devil's food cake--

8.
i'm as old as the devil
but younger than 
his breakfast--

9.
laugh when i tell you i'm
16 from the bottom bunk of a bunk
bed in your parent's house--
we hear pots boiling dinner

10.
found the stars in glow paint--
broke Oreo like supernova
like Jesus 
like adoration
like the incense of a birthday candle

11.
do i still smell like 
the birthday cake in the over--
a girl with orchid ears
burning sheets on the bottom bunk--

12.
i told you i was a sun god

13.
i'm 16 so it's time to
rupture the orbit of
another gumball-- click-teeth
kiss me--

14.
days to build an arch out
of maple leafs--
climb the tree with me
and we'll peel off the glow 
in the dark stickers 
in between the stars

15.
the blue gumballs were scarabs

16.
i am only 10 and brave
enough to walk on shallow water
and still fear sharks

17.
i am only 5 and
i eat grilled cheese because it
reminds me of the pyramids
i crawled out of--

18.
i covered the surface of
a moon with birthday candles
and called it a sun

19.
click teeth to make a spark--
light a wick--
tell me how old
are you now
are you now
are you now
are you now
that the pyramids are shrinking
and the sun a candle

20.
blow out the candles
beneath the bunk bed--
i'll kiss you-- and 
forgot how many times 
i walked belt loops
of the earth because you
make me feel like Ra
like rapture
like devil's food--
like removing the lid
of a sarcophagus--
crawling on my knees 
onto the back of a maple leaf--
cross the river Styx with me--
we'll teach the devil
how to break an Oreo
and kiss loud enough to light the sun.