if aptitude is handed down

with freckles and my

scoliosis, then surely I am

my mother’s daughter. I learned

early to correct my friends’

theres, theirs, and they’res—

later I came to understand

it’s not life or death in conversation.

words have weight many times

the page they’re written on—

each represents a careful choice,

a search. my life will be a quest

for the right words, the best placement

of punctuation. where should I put

the line break?

this is the question

my life will answer.