When I was six
my mother
thinking it was time for the sex talk
guided me to my brother’s room
abandoning me at the door frame
of a coming of age teen
he sat me down on his bed
facing the wall decorated with playmates and centerfolds
playing some game for the tenth time
with one hand during a momentary pause when scorpion grabs subzero
he reaches under the mattress and hands me
a stack of Trojans
damn kids start earlier and earlier he said
then he swore at the T.V.
calling for some conspiracy of Nintendo
and I was dismissed
to spend the rest of the day
making water balloons
