I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl

By Karyna McGlynn
It’s no wonder          I’m always tired          with all these tract houses—
                                    It’s night & cold
on my belly in                                                  the undeveloped field now
                                    I have to bury her
clothing inside                                                a black garbage bag in plot D
police cars roll         past but continue        down the treeless parkway
                                    even after shining       
their lights on                                                  me in my freshman sundress
                                    I can only assume
they don’t see                                                  the significance of my presence
but I must say          1994 is a simpler         time—not everyone is suspect
                                    I crawl up next to
my old house                                                   & look through a lit window
                                    my mother reads
a book in bed            I want to knock           on the glass, there’s something
                                    I need to tell her

Copyright Credit: Karyna McGlynn, “I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl” from I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl. Copyright © 2009 by Karyna McGlynn. Reprinted by permission of Sarabande Books, Inc. www.sarabandebooks.org
Source: I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl (Sarabande Books, 2009)