poem of the day 05.12.10

pink purse

the little girl left her pink purse
on the bus this morning
i saw it after she and her mother got off
it was just sitting there
fake pink silk with red beads
i wish i’d seen it before they got off
i could’ve yelled “wait!”
handed the little girl the purse with a smile
got myself a thank you
but i was too busy staring at her mother’s
black high heels and her tight ass
in dark navy colored jeans
i was too busy watching her saunter
down 13th avenue
like she didn’t have a child with her
i was too busy thinking about a morning
fight with my wife
to see the pink purse just sitting there
i thought about getting off at the next stop
playing the good samaritan
running up the avenue to return the purse
but it’s getting hot outside
i’m battling coffee and wine in my veins
no food in my stomach
the country is bankrupt
they are talking layoffs again at the job
and the poems keep coming back to me rejected
i don’t have time to help anybody but myself
it’ll be a life lesson for the kid, i reason
something to take with her as she gets older
and tries her damndest to hang onto things
that’ll keep slipping through her fingers
she’ll remember losing that purse
in the most tangible way
maybe it’ll be her first great loss
if i were her hot mom or her old man
i’d tell her that’s just the way it goes, my little dear
you lose things
jobs, people, love, money, youth, life
and little pink purses with red beads
that get left behind on buses
on a tuesday morning in early may
that showed so much promise
when you first woke up.