…time to pay the gas bill…

Yuram-Dong
August 18^th, 2013 – a Sunday
ten days before my 32^nd birthday
she was 16 years old, with a simple, stainless
smile…much like her pumpkin head…
those red sneakers were falling apart,
but she trudged along in them anyways
as her sloe-eyes peeked out from under
uneven and dismal bangs

that helmet haircut couldn’t protect her
from pernicious prowlers let alone
from playground put-downs

sweet sixteen
sorrowful seventeen