My parents told me not to swallow cherries whole. Spit the pits out — not here, not where everyone can see. Go somewhere alone, they said, where no one will witness the disgusting act of the pit leaving your mouth.
So I went alone into a dark alley.
Hands covered my mouth before I could spit.
Beneath sheets of earth I lie now. Earth in my mouth, worms in my nostrils, sand in my eyes. My flesh mel...