Taste For The Forbidden

they told me not to read

in the bathtub 

at night

flashlight in hand

not to sneak out 

to the lilac tree 

to bury my allergy pills

at its roots

not to hit 

other children 

with swords and rocks

or march them around

in formation 

all those rules

gave me a taste

for the forbidden

which haunts my 

forty-five year old mouth 

with the wild 

tang of blood 

the apparition 

of everything I shouldn’t 

reach out and seize

puts on your face

and haunts 

my head