see jane run

[Lizzie]

she thinks I love her
I don't
but I'm cradling
that belief—
it'll make touching her easier

she's nine but smells like thirteen—
strawberry Lip Smackers
and Love's Baby Soft perfume—
the shit parents gift their budding daughters
to mask the musk of first periods

I don't like em young
I don't like anyone

but I can get her
to perform on command
like she's hypnotized—
I snap my fingers
and smile
as she heels to me

—such a good girl—

I love to watch her
run

Capped the I's and changed the last two lines to Todd's suggestion, 5/11/17