Tenderness Poem by Charlotte Ballard

Reach deep, young one
To find love hidden
In the Cocomo places.
Littered like plastic
Combs bent into cruel
Shapes that children
Leave in other kids’
Souls. Love, a one-size-
Fits-most word, hungers
For a private slot raised
Between summer radishes and
Books held before blossoming
Cheats. Milk-fed, candy sweet,
Apples blushed pink. Palm-sized.
My palm. His palm
Practices a calming ritual
In a bathroom scrubbed
Clean with Lysol and
Rose-bloomed soap.
The pages bleed
Black ink even
As he burns.