Let's Call Her Crystal Now By Joe Hakim

Bump into a girl I used to go to school with in town, she used to be called JXXXX- let's call her Crystal now. When we see each other we raise our eyebrows to say, Hi, and after the initial shock of recognition we carry on walking by, and it's funny because at school we would always flirt, and she was one of the first girls to lift up her shirt so I could grope her tits, a most welcome development at thirteen, but then we split, and she started seeing kids who were a lot older - because they appeared to be bolder, and could get hold of good grass, and soon after that she was stoned out of her box in every class,

and she'd stay up all night munching acid and E's, then go to school the next day and snort speed before PE. I didn't see her that much after we left, but I heard she got up the duff, something I didn't quite expect, and then no sighting for years until I saw her in town the other day, when it took all of my effort to not look away, because she's not yet thirty and her hair's gone grey, and her eyes resemble whirlpools made out of clay, then there's the deep lines like ruts around a down-turned mouth that stays shut, but still speaks of time spent committing crime to feed her habit -

see something unguarded, and you can bet she'll just fuckin' grab it and make a run for the door and not look back; might be the only chance she'll get to score some crack this week - I can tell by the state of her face she's a total rock freak, nothing more than a a walking tomb - her brain's receiving e-mails from the Lost Plant Doom, so make some room for her as she walks past, she's living each day as though it's her last, the weight of the world resting on her brow, her life's like the old bus station - torn down, a symbol of things changing and how - she used to be called JXXXX - let's call her Crystal now.

Copyright © Joe Hakim 2007

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