improbable romance 13

 

Billie,

 

you're an inflammatory comment

slouched at the lights

waiting to cross the road

 

face stripped bare

to every car

your legs (god, legs!) arrest me

 

high school slut

you in a short dress

no socks

 

do nothing to please me

except what keeps you

occupied

 

I'll watch

in the rear mirror, look at you

later

 

so you'll endure?

cleave?

cut your losses?

 

your mother's obduracy

your father's

mind

 

they're absorbed

in the tampon

within you

 

your father's other lives

your mother's

lies

 

I've seen her

push the flesh

into place

 

when I come

to your

door

 

like you

she won't take no

for an answer