bleached blonde crazy,
a crap shoot of slaps, hugs,
ambiguous permissions, it didn't matter
it had all been done before,
-Look at her wild eyes, Charlie-
I was bad enough to earn distrust.
Then she dug my white cotton panties
our of the hamper to check
for what? I didn't know,
-We were talking, that's all, Momma-
mired in real-life drama,
it was the night she wasn't there.
I played Blanch Dubois, won second place
in half the whole damn
state of Texas, second place!
Can you imagine that?
Looking for her face through
the red curtain slit, I was
wrapped warm in applause
and the kindness of strangers
-Shut her voice up inside-
Kenny was back from Tulane
on his way to Viet Nam. Top down,
we had burgers in his Corvair,
I sobbed in big gulps, he tried
to make it right, fondled my breasts.
I felt beautiful, returned
his wide-mouth tongue kisses,
-but that was all, I swear.
Why won't you believe me?-
The next day we went to East Gate Mall
for new school clothes and shoes,
it was as good as her sorry ever got.
(c)Shann Palmer
from Dashboard Fire 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment