By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 10 December 1998

Strong blood

      I will think of you
       on the 19th of every August
          the 22nd of each November
      and the 8th of all Decembers
          I survive on this planet

     I did not plan it
        this way
     I did not wake up
         one day
      and say, "God, I'm bored. I think I'll go ahead and fall in love
with a misogynistic, morally bankrupt Leo-Aries who will plant the seed
of life in my womb
   and then zoom
 off into the sunset
         with an Aries bitch."

  I did not dream of you
   when I was a little girl
  or when I was older
   and put a rose petal
      under my pillow
  I never envisioned myself
    lapping up abuse
       like milk
   when I was playing with my Cabbage Patch dolls I didn't imagine
      giving birth to an angel someday
    and then giving her away
     because I had no money
      or hope
  in any direction

  I don't need a calendar
    or a daily planner
    or a clock
    or a watch
 those three dates
   are branded
    on my heart
 and I'm okay
   because Daddy says
   I'm a Rainwater
   and we've got
  Strong blood