I’m eight. I’m based on a true story

with blood on the patio

and splinters all over the place.

Men with green masks shine a light in my eyes.

You swing like a girl, a boy had said.

This is how you do it—hold it like an axe

and slash at your enemies.

We are enemies? It’s not a game

unless something bleeds. I know forgiveness.

I know how many fingers the doctor is holding up.

You throw like a girl. Make a fist

like this. The bruise on my chest,

the shape of a diamond. I spit out a tooth

as the doctors ask, Do you remember your name?

Do you remember where you live?

Can you blink your eyes? They keep shooting me

with questions as they gouge and stitch

whichever wound keeps opening.

Matthew Olzmann (MI)  is a writer-in-residence for InsideOut, a nonprofit literary arts company which places writers in Detroit public schools. He was a Fellow at the 2006 Kundiman Retreat for Emerging Asian American Writers.