When I Was a Child by Heidi Slettedahl

When I was a child
Pluto was a planet
and a dog.

When I was a child
Mercurochrome solved everything
with its orangey amber blur.

When I was a child
we played with mercury
when my mother dropped the glass thermometer on the floor.

When I was a child
you could buy cigarettes from a vending machine
and fireworks from the back of someone’s truck.

When I was a child
Stranger Danger meant
we forgot to look at our uncles and our cousins and our next-door neighbors.

When I was a child
family business was family business
and you didn’t tell.

You never told.



Heidi Slettedahl is a US-UK dual national who goes by a slightly different name professionally. Her most unusual talent is her ability to ride a unicycle. Mo(u)rning Rituals (Kelsay Books), her first collection of poetry, was published in 2024.