She steps back

hollow sunken eyes

to fix the value of

short dime bags

street corner hustle

and being out of pocket


The ole' clock goes tic toc

Milk trucks make
their morning rounds

While children drudge

grudgingly to school


"What's the skinny?"
      she asks


" Pure poison how many? "

 
" Half load"


"Gimmicks to go?"

but she is already gone

to where all clocks stop


and children

let out from school


to empty houses
filled with people


while she is but

15 minutes cheap

from a short train


to giving up the ghost

7 bags long of reaching


her final precipice