The 16th Letter

Panty	The singular form of “panties”. One half of a pair. Components include an elastic waistband, a cotton crotch strip and one leg opening. The side remaining on the hip when the other half is torn.
Police	“Let’s face it” he sets the clipboard aside, “what you say is unlikely - I mean - you’re twice his size.”
Polite	I did not let my keys touch, jangling my arrival to the front door in the hours before dawn. Instead, I slipped beneath the gate so no one would hear her crying out on her hinges – made certain no trace of my gown would catch, no threads floating as unanswered questions to mark my passing through. I did not wake the dog.
Progestin	The pharmacist smells of cigarettes herself, adjusts her wire-rimmed glasses and confirms the spelling of my name and birthdate. She asks for two forms of ID, says my name is unusual and wonders aloud whatever happened to normal American names. I do not say I am Native - that my ancestors knew the blood of a great serpent contained a compound that immobilized invading armies. I cannot say that I am Cherokee because I cannot find a way around an egg I’ve dropped that is splitting in my throat. Side effects include dizziness, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain, uterine pain and heavy uterine bleeding. I pay in cash. She slides my change over the counter, ignoring my outstretched hand - tells me to be more careful next time.
PTSD	They say that hearing is the last sense we lose when before die, so it is important to speak through that stillness, even to one who may be in a coma state. At times, voices will enter slowly as if through saltwater. At times, winter will blow though the weakening body scattering well-meaning words of friends across the pavement.
Proximity	The mechanism by which one brown woman becomes exchangeable for another.
Puerto Rico	You whiskymutter my blouse groping for an archipelago, set your nails at an angle and dig into that loam, plowing for a boricua who left an empty stripe on your ring finger. You are asking her questions that cannot be answered by tearing into the isle you are making of me, now drifting through the Virgin Islands – apart the bitter continent of the body.