The King and I
Marc J. Strauss

I saw The King and I on an overseas flight.
I'd forgotten that Yul Brynner dies in the end.
My family constantly tells me that I block out

unhappy events. Just yesterday my sister reminded me
of two serious accidents. At age nine I fractured my arm
riding my bike down my grandmother's stoop.

At twelve I was hit by a car and thrown to the ground
unconscious. She says I forget because I'm an optimist.
I remind her of a beating when she was eight

and I was five. It was in the kitchen, by the yellow
refrigerator. It wasn't with the brass buckle
or the brown leather strap kept in the hallway closet.

This time it was a shoe, blue, with a long thin heel
and metal tip. The skin on my right forearm broke
in three places. My sister denies it completely.