I was taken by gypsies.
Only three and living in a
Den of
Thieves.
Cherished by no one.
Tarnished by
Everything.
I remember
Our RV, the large metal palace.
The blue and red lights.
The smiling police officers my 'mother'
(if you could call your kidnapper that)
said were bad.
That they didn't want anything to do
With
You.
I remember the long stretch of highways.
The passing Americana.
A waving cowboy; a smiling clown. Neon.
A gas station somewhere in the middle of Iowa.
Scratches on the bathroom stall doors; read like the bible.
Connie is a whore; For a good time…; cunt.
I remember Mardi Gras.
Masks of every colour; Venice carnival dumbed down.
People dancing till their hearts gave out.
Drinking themselves stupid; pick pocketing the ones with Lolita complexes.
Dancing crowds, naked as the day that they were born.
My eyes
Darting around.
Breath shallow as a hand
Inched up my twelve year old thigh.
Oh God.
Fifty bucks in hand, a knee in the balls.
I shiver
Looking for my 'mother' and her unsympathetic 20 something year old lover.
In the alleyways where
Women
Men
Drunk off of spiked punch
Give fellatio to each other.
Hands woven in their hair; cold wires instead of fingers.
Bent in front like a sinner receiving a holy wafer; not like a lover.
My head spinning as I find them
Wrapped around each other.
I frown, throwing my 'hard earned cash' onto the rubbish lined streets.
And walk
Back to
The metal prison.
--
Yup.