Rites

Lana Shoaf

Adolescence breaks me in when B.J. sticks

his tongue down my throat.

At age four I move with my family to a

brown house we still call home.

I get a D in Biology.  Who cares, I'm

homecoming queen.

A star is born at age nine, when I win a foot

race in gym

I say good-bye to Mom and Dad and marry at

nineteen.

In fourth grade, I muster the courage to say

"Sh*t" for the first time.

Twenty finds me in a college class, I never

thought I would do it.

I sneak out of the house for the first time

during my sophomore year.

When I was seven, my grandfather died I saw

my dad cry for the first time.