Hideous

--

She smokes pennies and nickels

And quarters and dimes

Any coin to keep me away from her mind

She stands in the bullets that shower and dink

Denting the rooftop and scarring the sink

--

I ran with the bushel to fill up my lungs

Clutching and grasping at what I’ve become

A scratchy-eyed wreck with her hair in a whirl

Wearingit down in such obvious curls

--

She laughs at my hideous, pitiful skin

Pokes out the stitches I’ve wrapped myself in

She’s wonderfully better than I ever am

The essence of women who don’t give a damn

--

Tagging the grass that races my heels

I soaked up the radiant, rotten orange peels

My teeth clatter-clank as I dip into place

She surveys my sorrow and makes me unlace

--

She hurries the wind with the tail of her gown

A sleepless red beauty too perfect for crowns

She shudders in pleasure at the crows’ awful cry

Plucking the flowers the moment they die.

--