From Love Will Burst into a Thousand Shapes. Published by Caitlin Press in 2014. Hamilton is the author of eight books, including two volumes of poetry and two of short fiction.

There are things you can do [to keep your purity], like layering, accessorizing…

If I conceive God's child my father will get $500,000

My father instructs me to pray for this fortune

he could open a second restaurant

a walk-in fridge

But the truth is that when

I am on my knees I do not pray for

God in my womb

There is a boy at school

who has a laugh like a drum

who is good at geography and Spanish

I am my father's biggest asset, he says

my purity his command

I drink water from the bottom rim of the cup

I swallow twenty Rolaids

my friend says write I am a whore on a piece of paper, crumple it

throw it out the window

I squirt Coca-Cola up myself

When I kneel before the priest at the altar