When I told you my story,

I never mentioned him.

But he’d been there,

in between English and Spanish II

with Mrs. Garcia.

I could never tell if he was even enjoying it,

because he could talk about the weather

with his hand up my skirt.

I never talked at all.

I would leave through a back door,

head for open air,

where the wet smell of sex wouldn’t linger.

Everyone thought that I gave it away.

They didn’t know that he’d never asked.

 

 

 

Kathryn J. Cody is a freelance writer living in Lexington, KY. Her work first appeared in Prism, a magazine for gifted students, when she was in the fourth grade. Since then she’s been published by The Listening Eye, Urban Spaghetti, The Pacific Review, Peralta Press, Blood & Thunder, Mentress Moon, received honorable mention in the Best of Ohio Writers competition, and was a semi-finalist in the Bart Baxter award for Poetry in Performance. She won first place in the Community Writers Association International Writing Competition for her poem “Goblin Men,” a piece about eating disorders in young women. She has written articles for AARP.com and short stories, as well as written three novels and has one creative non-fiction work in progress. She has read at numerous venues, most notably the Seattle Art Museum and has led many poetry workshops across the country. In addition to writing, she enjoys singing, swimming, and cooking.