|
{what is saved} tasha cotter I hung back or did something that looked like hanging back. For about a year, everyone I knew was stripping Or developing film in cracker box stores, stealing polish or powder When someone named Susan was memorizing Faces on magazines at the counter up front. They had to build a fence to keep me pure. Too many streets in town for me to pace on With girls who hung out at Save-A-Lot waiting till 5 For the double burger deal. They saved change for Kools and waved at drivers: A banker in a suit, a baptist minister. Sometimes people slowed down To see our scrawny shaved legs that planted themselves In black torn-up Airwalks that we drew on or punched holes in. I wrote a line: Love is the Whole In a red felt pen, but it spoke more of murder Not being more than all. That summer Talks on sex were nightly lessons. We compared notes on abandoned city streets. Without being obvious. It was only later I stood parted: My body finally registering the warmth of her blood. In the silence I slipped behind the white fence. |
