On Escaping

Abstract

On Escaping Amanda Maret Scharf (bio) The year Vanaema died I dug my way outunder a chain link fence. I was almost throughonto the intersection of Sunset and Temescalif it weren't for a girl named Bijou, who said I'm tellingand ran for the adults at the YMCA summer camp.I curled my four-year-old body back through the rust,over dried maple leaves and dead bees, dirtcaked onto sap. Blood dripped down my forearm.When the counselor crouched beside me in the wayadults think they can invite themselves into a childhood,she asked are you crying because you're hurt, or because you got caught?It wasn't a question, but a matchlit in a theater, curtains curling into ash. She smiledinviting confession, but I bit downhard, a difficult animal, the obstinate goatwho never belonged in a theater, smeared the redoff my wound, what escaped from me and my shut mouth—me, on the fence and in the dirt, me, on the other sidewalking home and towards the circle. Me, led by the arm, by the adultwho placed me into the circle of children, another link.I moved my lips but I assure you, I didn't sing along. [End Page 151] Amanda Maret Scharf Amanda Maret Scharf (she/her) is a queer poet from Los Angeles. Her writing has been supported by Lambda LitFest, Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, Tin House, and The Home School. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in The Iowa Review, Fugue, Willow Springs, Meridian, and elsewhere. She is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at Ohio State University where she serves as poetry editor for The Journal. Copyright © 2022-2023 Pleiades and Pleiades Press