a stingray is a curious animal,
infamous for their tail, known to sting those around him
when my sister was eleven, she used to want to be a stingray
nobody could hurt me then, she would say
her fair strands of hair in a whirlwind around her face,
and we laughed and nodded,
yes, that would be nice.
by the time my sister was sixteen, she believed the world was out to get her
I used to come downstairs in the night to her rapping her knuckles against the door,
trying to find somebody home.