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Description
She has all the symptoms:
pulling air into her lungs
is a valiant civil war
(and she’s wondering who the victor is),
she has a slouch like Lincoln,
like an NBA star without the fame,
if they had ever wanted to
go somewhere and not be recognized
by only an abnormal height, by a difference,
if they had wanted to hide in front of people,

as if she were something small and furred
with button eyes and predators, and a tail
she could tuck between her legs.

Her friends are whispering
and she can listen
because she’s good at not being noticed by now,
there are words like lovesickness and who?

but she whispers kyphosis,
Quasimodo’s affliction
that ended when he died clutching the gypsy
Esmerelda after being denied by her,
and he can only hold her when she does not know she’s being held,
when not being able to breathe is not a problem.