I often fall asleep doing homework
around three a.m.
and wake myself up
at four a.m.
to copy mindless equations
and chemistry formulas
into the underside of my skull.
one morning I woke up
and found angry scrawls
written all over my arms, reading:
here is a fundamental truth about young women: they are too precious to spend nights injecting academics into their skin to feel worth anything to their family.
it took me a while to wash it all off.
