Ambriel Floyd Bostic
curating my daughter’s first period kit at age 10
three weeks before she leaves for camp
maybe three years before she needs it
I cull, fill baskets
market aisles like fruit trees
bounty heavy and over-ripe
the first time I stained
my sheets I wanted to hide
them but now they make
special shorts for sleeping
my daughter does not know
what to do with her breasts
but she has some idea
they are becoming
already she stands out
from girls in her grade
she is just shy
of whatever metaphor we use
to say puberty:
blossoming
the state of being
a fully culpable
little girl
in the wrong state
a mother
the cup of her
split open
these are the things
a mother thinks about
in bed
at night.
Ambriel Floyd Bostic lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY. She is a mother of two children and a dog. Her work in design is an exploration of visual story-telling. Ambriel founded and runs The In Kind Project, and nonprofit that helps children and artists collaborate to produce community theater projects. She believes everyone has a story to tell.