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Doors
\nby
\nRadiance Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
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In the bathroom downstairs, there was a section
\nof wood grain on the dark door that looked like a shark.
\nI used to stare at it while I sat on the toilet.<\/p>\n
And, from then on, I searched for shapes on doors\u2014
\nfaces, animals, monsters–just as I searched the clouds
\nfor the same.<\/p>\n
The doors to the examination rooms in Dr. Ozil\u2019s office
\nhad many ghosts. And as I sat\u2014legs swinging\u2014
\nwaiting for the nurse to come give me what my mother said<\/p>\n
were allergy shots–which I learned much later,
\nwere really testosterone shots–the elongated faces
\nstared back.<\/p>\n
And, to this day, most doors still have frozen faces\u2014
\nexcept for the doors to the rooms at the clinic
\nwhere I received my first prescription for estrogen.<\/p>\n
Those faces loved me, and those doors turned into trees,
\nand the forests they opened to were wonderful–
\nand still are, and the archways I walk beneath, still let in the sun.<\/p>\n
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