Some Girl
part I

Rain smeared red on wet metal
they search the inky night with hard yellow lights
but a cold engine can’t talk
the cop leans in her empty window
‘tell me what you were thinking’ he will
whisper in the vinyl
and the answer is slow in coming
five hours have fallen on their footprints
unseen they ran to the road
that no one’s thought of yet
old diminished, it creeps up out of vines and
runs out of town like a man fearing death
they slammed his doors and closed the past behind them
and were gone before the first phone rang
no one will even remember what color her eyes were
they can’t recollect what she liked to wear
and they never did know her plans
no one will think to ask
if she knew what leather smelled like against her face
what would she be doing in a backseat! her mother would have
shouted, She wouldn’t touch a gun
Those pills in her drawer? Aspirin! What do you think!?
No one would dare to suggest she was less than perfect
no one ever saw how close she came
how far she went or where she really wanted to go
You know she was a plain girl
this last in a conspiring hush of voices
outside the police station

no one will ask how she told them she was leaving
or learn how she answered their indifference with
unswept floors, dust on her shelves,
and a slow-filled suitcase kept in the back of a closet littered with useless papers
a great start! the best four years of your life!
apply now!
bullshit, chatter, and harmless
she knew what everyone thought and
fell asleep to whispers nightly
waiting
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