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Lauren Nicole Nixon is an arts educator and poet based in Austin, TX. Nixon holds an M.A. in Arts Politics from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Visit her at www.laurennicolenixon.com
Letter #1: An Unwinding
dear claudette, you are young but not cocooned.
reckless tongue. hem below your knee. they
fear that when the lights go out you’ll burrow
under the floorboards like somethin wild (but
I know you burrow in the daylight, too)
biscuits and honey are real nice till the plate
hits the floor and everybody’s bloodied up. Or
was everybody bloody before they shoved the
plate at you? girls like us are sposed to learn
big lessons after our hands are tied with twine.
we’re sposed to keep our mouths closed when
the room goes dark. see, it’s bad manners
to hear the bomb ticking away in the attic
during dinner and to keep it a secret. but
you were raised right. scuffed mary janes
and sweet wrists. knowing when to furl.
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