..........
.............The Poetry Of
................... Halle Linkhauser
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onto something
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I was branded at age five
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by my father
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lit cigarette in the
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middle of the forehead
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it was an accident
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I remember that searing hot
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white spot pain and
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I knew I was onto something
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eleventh grade
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tucked myself away in the basement
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inside a red Pinto named Penelope
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waited until everyone
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had gone to work or school
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started with a safety pin
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ended with a Swiss Army knife
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superficial cuts they called them
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I remember the heart pounding
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head expanding explosion right before
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the object of my choice
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broke the skin
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it would bubble around then give
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Ahhh
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and I knew I was onto something
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BIG
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the cocaine
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stole five years of my life
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my spirit and any chance for
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some reclaimed innocence
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bad things happen to redheads
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after 4:00 A.M.
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that's for sure
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and I knew I was onto something
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HUGE
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now at twenty-seven
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nine tattoos
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mostly drug-related
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the artist ODed
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two nipple piercings
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two labia piercings
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one tongue
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bellybutton and
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nose piercing
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later
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this body I've created
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makes no sense to me
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at all
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I got clean
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removed the nipple
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labia
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bellybutton
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and nose piercings
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tongue was gone long ago
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but these fucking tattoos
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talking all the time
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and I haven't said a word
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I fantasize about taking a razor
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slicing and lifting the first layers of
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skin affected by the ink but
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that would be crazy so
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I scratch
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jump out of bed in the middle of the night
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lock myself in the bathroom at work
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linger around the corner while the others go ahead
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anytime's a good time
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scratch until I foam at the mouth
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break a sweat
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bleed
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revisit that searing hot
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white spot pain
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all the outlines rise up
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defending the canvas
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I guess we'll just have to fight
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it out
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virgin masturbator
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she parted her pretty petals
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expecting a miracle
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tentatively touching
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the tiny bean
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something sputtered
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fizzled
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then stopped
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hardly spent
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wondering
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is THAT what all the women
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are whining about
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the Amish didn't get it
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all I could see
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when I approached
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the baboon cage
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was a group of Amish people
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black backs like a wall
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a family I guess but there is such
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stifled stillness about
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those Amish they fascinate me
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I didn't know whether to watch
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the monkeys or them
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suddenly the biggest baboon
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I think it was a baboon
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you know the ones with the
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rainbow asses
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the biggest baboon on the right
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began tracing his fingers
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in something
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the Amish cooed and
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clucked about how cute it all was
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I heard them
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then we realized
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that monkey fuck
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was playing in his own
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smeared shit
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the Amish clucking stopped and
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really working the crowd now
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the baboon began to eat the shit
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defiantly making eye contact with all us
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free fucks out there
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really excited now
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he reared up and began pulling
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his dick
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one hand after the other
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in a milking fashion
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an odd way to jack off
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I'd never seen it done that way
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but it worked
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eight strokes
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back arched
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the monkey came
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all over the smeared shit
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and then wait then
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grabbed a scoop of the
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shit semen goulash
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threw it down the old hatch
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and charged the glass
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the show was over
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crazy monkey eyes watched us
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for reactions it was
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the greatest thing I'd ever seen
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but the Amish more stifled than before
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ushered their kids away
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I couldn't believe it I thought
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if anybody would understand
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it would be those
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Amish fucks
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