We shouldn’t tell him

that she sold her eggs

when she was twenty

for a thousand bucks

to get milk for

her newborn baby.

Her baby is 9 now.

Don’t tell him

she’s trying to raise her

baby all by herself.

Don’t tell him

she doesn’t and

didn’t need anyone.

Don’t tell him

she was in love,

she was blind,

she regrets the things

she has done and

cannot take back.

Don’t tell him

she has failed and

she will fail

in a thousand more

ways not worth a dime.

Don’t tell him

this chick’s tale

because he won’t believe.

 

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Ayşe Tekşen lives in Ankara, Turkey where she works as a research assistant at the Department of Foreign Language Education, Middle East Technical University. Her short stories and poems have been included in Gravel, After the Pause, The Write Launch, Uut Poetry, The Fiction Pool, What Rough Beast, Scarlet Leaf Review, Seshat Literary Magazine, Neologism Poetry Journal, Anapest, and Red Weather. Her work has also appeared or is forthcoming in Constellations, Jaffat El Aqlam, The Paragon Journal, Ohio Edit, and Willow Literary Magazine. Twitter: @AyseTeksen