The Muse has slapped my wrist..

what my mother never told me

sprinklers are just faucets
of tears that water the earth
with joy

I thought when I was six

or maybe I heard that from a T.V Evangelist
who spouts the salt and light
of the Word

my word

you can never believe what your friends tell you
about the wood gnomes in the garden or about the boys
across the street

because lies are lies

no matter whose mouth they spew from
and Jake only kissed me
on the cheek

in the closet

and I thought, when I was 13,
that it might have meant something,
that kiss

but boy

he told me to relax, breathe deep,
it would only hurt a little
like a pinch, like a pinch

and it was over in a pinch

why had I never questioned
what I was never told

that sprinkler
that preacher
that kiss