Eustace

Did I ever tell you about the football player? Her name was Eustace Told me"Chelsea I think your useless" Kissed her shoulder She brooded and smoldered I proved my point Now that I'm older Finally sent the money I owed her She never wrote back Instead heard from her father Went beneath the waves to pull her child from a riptide She never reemerged And her son is paralyzed Since I moved away She's a household name Smiles missed and misremembered Like winding, curving roads carved into sprawl Sleepy, dreary neighborhoods, drowsiest at dawn The slightest shard, buried somewhere Plymmouth in the hedges, tires entrenched in the dirt Glinting and glaring a silver strand trapped beneath the earth Skee balls, claw machines, feeding coins Spewing tickets, like a drunk on the docks paranoid Divorced from any kind of reason or choice Hesitant but happy to be here Further estranged than I have ever been Further still until a great yawn exhausts and flees the skin Margaret they flooded our basement With cement, support beams, rebar and wet dreams Backstreets, names and faces That I long to describe with some semblance of clarity Guess you moved Like I knew you would Did you ever write me letters Of fondness and gentle words Guess you moved Like I knew you would Margaret Did you finish"Let's be in Hollywood!"? Guess you moved Like I knew you would If it's any comfort Margaret I never did make it to Hollywood