A Brief History of Breasts
by Micah Ling

1. I.

1. As a child, little enough that a girl’s chest
2. and a boy’s looked no different,
3. you’d pull your shirt off: peel it
4. in one swift motion like a man
5. in a movie; you’d kick the dirt and gravel,
6. a little bull, unsure exactly how to fight,
7. but ready to try your little girl fists at anything.

1. II.

1. In fifth grade, Mrs. Shoemaker had big droopy boobs
2. and a glass eye. She said it was like seeing through
3. your thumb—it wasn’t seeing darkness—
4. it was no sight at all.

1. III.

1. Pulling laundry from the dryer—smelling the hot
2. elastic from your first sports bra, your best friend
3. screamed for help—his father was being electrocuted—
4. by his motorcycle’s spark plug—couldn’t let go—
5. or stop the current until the battery had drained.

1. IV.

1. In graduate school, you rescued a gaunt boxer
2. from an abandoned farmhouse: all skin
3. and bones and tits. Puppies gone. She looked at you
4. like a mother, because the only thing stronger than milk
5. is trust.