Dixie

forward.

you wear a smirk
white button-down shirts
red ties and distraction
you wear your distraction out on your sleeve
rolled up to your elbows
in spite of me

*

my eyes were closed to you until
that almost fateful day i prowled the grass in search of
prey to feed the emptiness he left like ghosts in my lungs
exhale blow them out but they linger
on my lips moaning until
i suck them in again they drift back and forth across
my memory what he has done to me but yet
i saw you there in the grass that day you
saw me there and said my name
how did you know my name?

i crossed my fingers counted every
clover for your love it became my affliction
fear the story of rejection that still
haunted me and yet i passed you in silence
terrified you might see right through
my thin skin to my heart beating against
its brittle cage afraid it may flop right out onto
the pavement in front of you would you reject it
if i offered it to you?

*

you wear a smirk
white button-down shirts
red ties and distraction
you wear your distraction out on your sleeve
rolled up to your elbows
in spite of me