Some Things We Say to Children

Pamela R. Anderson

 

…should be outlawed. Cruel threats

            You want to count your teeth on the floor?

heartless promises

            I’m going to rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody stump.

questionable advice

            Life is too short to dance with ugly men.

 

Words designed to inflict maximum laceration

            You couldn’t pour piss from a boot if the directions were written on the heel.

minimal tenderness

            Shut your mouth and eat.

 

They sting like 5,287 hornets

            Small animals shit, too.

and project into the future

            I’ll be go to hell.

but never seem to consider

            There are a thousand ways to skin a cat.

 

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Pam (the original) Anderson has never owned a red bathing suit and is unlikely to invest in adjustments that create any alternate physical facts related to her personal appearance. Her work has appeared in Whurk, JennyMag, Mason’s Road, and elsewhere. When she is not writing poems about the Holocaust, she practices and writes about yoga. Find Pam on Facebook at Pamela R. Anderson—Poet.