early one evening in a middle school parking lot

 


she pulled in
next to me

wildly threw
open her
door

there was a
spill of unruly
long dark
hair

a cigarette
planted in
the corner
of her mouth

eyes that
said she
hadn't
been fucked
enough...

and a
slow
sadness
on her face
that read
she had
been fucked
over by the
world too
much

she was a
walking
funeral
parade
dressed
in black

her child
ran on ahead
of her and
she followed
behind...

she walked
cooly, defiantly,
like a proud,
doomed
gladiator to
battle in
the Circus
Maximus

and as she
moved
towards the
entrance...

I swear I
could see
that old
school
building
cringe