Fourth of July

by Joyce Nancy

(If you didn’t know)
The psych ward is a battalion of suicidal comrades
Scarred arms track marks tar teeth said I love you
I love you Fourth of July fireworks like party favor gunshots
Boys with long hair, liars – girls who cut the outside of their arms
instead of the inside & we were telling secrets like
Who hurt you first who hurt you last who have you hurt

Lady with a baby duck keychain clipped to her open gown tits out
Lady with an eyeshadow Ash Wednesday cross
Lady who skulked at night & mounted someone’s dick dead asleep

A young lawyer played me every day in Scrabble
We were both smart so I let him look at my body

A hospital gown is good as a pillowcase is good as anything
The friendship of strangers is just as good as anything – who else
would bum you two cigarettes at eight in the morning & wait
out time in the quiet nowhere of nothing, playing broken
guitars & pianos playing The Beatles treating nonsense
like it was exceptional – they said sweetie don’t leave they said
sweetie promise you’ll never come back here