it only rains up

here are the things Sparks says he likes
about the world from the monkey-bars:
Upside-down sky means if you grow too
tall you hit your head on the floor.
 It only rains up. The short guys always win.
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Sparks is short. he keeps his arms crossed like laces
when he hangs from the bars by his knees, his face red pizza,
he says, I heard girls keep food for later inside of their bras.
I kick the gravel.
I'm too tall for the monkey bars. I saw Sparks' older
sister's underwear once--she changed, unzipped her jeans,
didn't close the bathroom door the whole way, I didn't look away
not even when she saw me--but I won't tell him.
he says, I touched a girl's bra before. I say, Let's go to the river.
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the bottoms of rivers look like tea cups, mud swirl
mocha. my mother let me taste her coffee before and I
hated it. grown-ups only like things that taste bad. frogs
jump, skitter. a half-chewed bird flows downstream
in a dead way. the dark things in the woods would
eat us but Sparks won't let them. Come and get us,
he says. he waves a stick. Sparks always cries when he
scrapes his knees--he turns away his face, but I still see them,
the little tears collecting like stamps in the corners of his eyes.