Graduation

She looked at herself in the mirror and

marvelled at the mess they’d made: her

matted hair was Harry

missing by a mile; her

schoolmarm glasses saved her eyes

from Simon’s spurts;

left cheek was Charles, right

aggressive Andy; the thick

ammoniac taste was Dwayne and

Fred and Chico and Shane

--oh and cold-eyed Winston who’d

made sure she swallowed; the

decaying pearl necklace was Ming;

right breast dripped with Dave;

left with Anthony and weirdly

Stan had sprayed her shoulder-blades.

She resaw herself then as they

surrounded her sore, naked,

kneeling body and felt relief and

regret that Graduation was but

once a year.