When giving the finger Jackie Schmidt
aligned her minor knuckles, so.
She had the looks and smarts to know
more tricks than good girls publicly admit.
In due course she broke my heart.

Mom was too nice to flip a bird,
but my sister let them fly at will.
She spared her little brother till
he mocked the way she mispronounced a word:
Her digit shot up like a dart.

They say belly dancers do not strip,
but this one did. "Freaks suck!" she spat
to the handful of freaks who sat
along the bar; then wagged the fingertip
she swept across us, legs apart.