poem of the day 04.06.09

another one of a kind

she comes in here drunk a lot
most days before ten in the morning
and sits at one of the computers
to make loud phone calls
and she likes to tell the security guard
that he’s a fag when he tells her to be quiet
that he’s not a real cop
and she keeps accusing this one guy
of stealing her cell phone
even though all any of us have seen
him do is look at porn
and she likes to wave around her new red cell phone
the one that can connect to the internet
and play thousands of songs
and she likes to show the presumed thief
that she is doing better now with her new phone
then she calls her husband
and they fight on the phone for a while
because he’s leaving her again
he’s an actor and she’s a model
he’s been in film i’ve seen
but every picture she shows me looks like someone else
and sometimes she’ll cry when she’s on the phone
and the security guard will try and keep her quiet
but she’ll start screaming at him
calling him a motherfucker and a fag again
and she’ll start screaming at her husband too
while some of the ladies at the desk watch this and laugh
while the security guard tells her he’s going to call the cops
and she tells him to go ahead and call the fucking cops
and she tells her husband the faggot guard is going
to call the fucking cops on her
she hangs up the phone and continues on the computer
and in minutes her husband comes in
looking tired and worn out
he comes over to her and she starts crying again
they talk really quietly before she gets up
and her husband takes her by the arm
while she tells the guard he’s a fag one last time
and her husband leads her past the desk where
all of the ladies are standing with their hands
over their mouths
and she tells each of them that they are ugly
and her husband leads her out the door
then the ladies at the desk laugh
and the guard laughs
everyone breathes a sigh of relief
because she’ll be back tomorrow
sober and apologetic
but i just sit back and think to myself
there goes another honest and original person
another one of a kind
silenced just so the rest of us can kill another day
with mediocrity, complacency, and a smile.