CRIME Poem: Smile, by L. Evelyn

She said it hurts to smile,
Enamel weaker than her spine,
Having been stepped on
As she slept on
Park bench after park bench
With sparkling new segregated silver lines
That politicians melted down from her very own rain clouds.

She told me misery is heavy, like the air of a storm, and it
Shrouds
That her hoodie bears the brunt of
Blunt force trauma,
Covers her blunt, force, and trauma.

But she said,
“Drawstrings look like
A noose in the dark,
The same way a candy bar
Looks like a gun.”
She doesn’t carry either.

“To be honest,
The president must still envy my spine.
Even if it’s broken,
It’s mine—
To remove
And crack like a whip
Or tie around my neck.
Same difference in the end.
Fragile things
That last till after death,
Eroding with each sip of lemonade from the lemons they gave.”
Still, she smiles.

Author: poetryfest

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