poem of the day 08.05.14

gwen

there were many girls

whom i chased on campus

but few that i actually talked to

gwen started talking to me in art class one afternoon

because we were both drunk in the middle of the day

a drunk can always tell another drunk

especially when he’s staring right at you

but i couldn’t help myself

she had the most wonderfully wide eyes

and dyed red hair that she was always blowing out of her face

after that we hung out on campus a bit

i was getting over someone who wouldn’t let me go

and she was just getting into someone

some days i’d walk her to the bus stop

on others we’d sit on the library steps

eating vendor hot dogs

watching our coeds go from class to class

gwen talked at times about him

but i never felt the need to mention her at all

she worked at a bar down on st. clair street

that had over fifty beers on tap

you should come by one night, gwen said

but i never knew how to take her invitation

what with all of the boyfriend talk

so i never went

when class ended we offered to keep in touch

but who really does?

gwen said that she was leaving pittsburgh anyway

for a while life grew aimless

i had the first of many dead end full-tine jobs

and in my spare time i knew

where every quarter draft night was

in the fine city of pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs

i was floating by

and content to do so for however long it took

one night i was drinking in the bar of an italian restaurant

with an old friend and a blonde whom i just met

a girl who would try her best to destroy me

later that very same year

when there was gwen dressed in full waitresses regalia

her hair a bit longer and pulled back into a ponytail

but still tickling her cheeks

when she saw me those eyes lit up

and i felt some hope creep up in there with the failure

she called me over to her and gave me a hug

she said,

i’m glad you never came down to that bar

because they all ended up being assholes there

i wanted to ask her about the boyfriend

about how she came to stay in the city

but gwen started writing something down on her order pad

she ripped a piece of paper off and handed it to me

there was her name and phone number

finally

but then i noticed a bunch of fractions

with prices listed next to them

pot, gwen whispered

i’m selling pot now

then she blew the hair out of her face

and left me standing there

i went back over to my friend and the blonde

she was underage

she liked to wink at me while he talked

and when she bummed a smoke off of me

she didn’t even ask

she just took one from the pack

and went out into the night

shaking her ass

and craning her neck every few steps

to make damn sure that i was looking at her

instead of that space in the archway

that gwen had left.