sweet tooth

when i was 12 years old and in the 6th grade

i made a cassette copy from a compact 

of portrait of an american family

by the band Marilyn Manson

inside the plastic case of the cassette

i listed the title of each track 

using a blue pen

kerry hall who was in the 8th grade at the time

was the recipient of the cassette

and when i handed it to her she immediately

studied the track list i had tried to write carefully

she said “sweat tooth?” 

her short hair would hang in front of half her face
like claire danes in my so-called life

as she bent her head towards the globby ink