I got my first tattoo when I was eleven
on the bathroom floor of my late aunt's apartment
it was june and my shorts were too small
and I had been riding the subway all summer.
the camera captured the festivals, the parties, the museums and more--
but in my head I remembered the yelling, the hitting,
the falling down stairs, the jokes about weight,
the "nobody likes you,"
and then
the tiny droplets scattered across my wrist
