Matthew J. Hall- Three Poems

earth angel

I must have been ten years old

and she must have been seven

she pressed her back up against my chest

and I wrapped my arms around her

and sung the song 'earth angel'

and I could taste her in every intonation

she tasted like all the secrets we would carry on our backs

she tasted like carnival stories

she tasted me and kissed me back

then her father appeared out of nowhere

in a leather jacket, slick black hair and 1950's fury

what the hell's goin' on here then? he said

the next day Joanne told me

my dad said we're too young to be boyfriend and girlfriend

but we can still be friends

and that was okay

we'd had our moment  

the village slut

there was this girl who stopped in my home town for a while

I think her name was Laura but I don't really recall

she had nobody of worth around her and inherited a worthless mindset

you would never describe her as pretty

she had seen too much ugliness for that

the boys in the park took it in turns

but they didn't really know how to hurt

they simply couldn't compete with Laura's daddy and his friends

I guess those boys are men now

with daughters of their own

and sons too, who are taking their turn

with girls like Laura in the park

blood bath

Hope lights a last cigarette

sighs into the steam and cries from the depths of her bruised womb

she sets her glass of red on the porcelain ledge

and slits her wrists

with a clear and sharp shard of glass

she cuts longways and bleeds into the steam and hot water

she can't come to terms

with all we have done to her

the images are stuck to backs of her eyelids 

the wine doesn't work anymore and codeine gives her headaches

and the amitriptyline dream-twitches have claimed the waking hours

those big and silent tears from deep-grief-sobbing have long subsided

her cigarette drops into the bath as her lips part for four last words

I am so sorry  

Bio: Matthew J. Hall has been published in various lit mags, both online and in print. He regularly highlights his own creative endeavors aswell as the writing of those he admires on his blog, www.screamingwithbrevity.com