Nobody's Baby

an alley, dark,
and snug,
so fitting to the walk
that seals her dreams
in fisted closure

doubts snicker
blindly
in all seeing
from the city’s
dank hallways
and lean lazily
as sewer mist
dances
to night’s hopeless
parlay

another Christmas morn

Daddy’s little angel
so pretty
in pink pretend
as silent nights
echo the bells
of rehearsed laughter
on christened flakes
of morose.

slip in, slip on,
slip out, slip under

forty from Dave
thirty to Pedro
phit, phit, phit
duck and dodge
score
and be scored
a winner every play.

tap and tumble
A’s and B’s
braces
for that perfect
smile, and
pink band-aids
over scrabbled knees


a filthy mattress
of deep root
in stench heavy
tells stained secrets
holding hope hostage
under piss rotten stairs

his eyes seal her
as purchase
and her fumbling fingers
confirm
in trembled acquiesce

make a wish,
Sweetheart,
then blow out
the candles
that flicker
promise

she’s gonna be a heartbreaker,
that one.
*smile and nod*
you must be so proud
a hundred pounds of joy
in a cheerleader smile

you still owe me a C, Bitch
black words from spent lips
nah, that ain’t gonna do
favors and felony
time in broken bottles

she never sees a sunrise
is still there a sun?
When did the moon
move to Alberta?
and death squats heavy
and chambered
around her
shoulders?

just damp alleys
in tangled darkness
sprouting electric mangroves
with death
the only hope
that remains

the clack of her shoes
on brittle pavement
write stories
on the heart of this city
and mommy and daddy
have moved to Paris.




~rick