Pretty

almost out of cleanser
shake shake squeeze
damn

the hair she spent an hour straightening
tucked behind an elfin ear
she takes another drag
fish lips suckle the teat
of her only substance addiction

addicted to substance

a sigh of smoke
as an old man approaches
“you're too pretty to be smokin'”
another drag as he passes
forgetting the moment

her eyes shiver closed
and she's in her land of dreams
where crooked yellow smiles
don't taunt young girls, forgetting

in this place
poets and painters
pepper the sands with possibilities
on beaches lighted by awareness

little men come every other day
to scrape the red out of the eyes
so every one can see clearly
all the world's pretty lies

ten nineteen
eighty one cents is your change
the clerk commands
that she have a good day

running water
cleansed face
another cigarette
a new day