Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Breaking Point

The Breaking Point


His hand across her face with a sharp crack

Pale, bleeding and resigned.
      He kicks her in the ribs and she cries out
      The mental anguish far worse that the bruises
      The desperation of an addict using
                 Against her will

Dope sick without it, dying with it
      Foxhole prayers and gas station rendezvous
      Diesel fuel and body fluids
      Shame and degradation

He is a wooly mammoth lying on top of her
      The desire to lay her head on the pillow of hair on his chest
      Instead she feels thick, doughy fingers pawing at her
     There is no mistaken this for love
      A service provided for payment of some sort


     One more fix.
     Chase the high, immortality
     Feelings of power and inferiority
     Emaciated, dirty needles, blistered lips
     The smell of peppermint

Her hair sticks up like little yellow maggots
     Continual fear and constant tears
      Life in the alley
      Smells like the dumpster
      Behind Mr. Jessup’s Butcher Shop
      On a sunny, July afternoon

Desperation pulses like sexual energy in the air
      The halo of gnats dance around her head
      The sound of feral children close by


                         The smell of dust, wet cardboard
      The crinkle of cellophane and terse, barked orders
      The warehouse workers unaware
      Slow death beyond their walls
      The thick fence between the church and the alley
      Covered in grime and moss
      Won't one person reach out and save her?

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