City Tornado by Jasen Sousa

City Tornado

She is a city tornado 

sweeping through her apartment,

sweating, trying to gather

her thoughts and pack

everything she thinks

she will need for a week

long stay in detox.

Eminem speaks

to her in the background,

and she listens.

I help her carry out 

her Nautica bag

while she balances

a bowl of oatmeal

sitting in her daughter’s

Bratz bowl along with a bag

full of feminine hygiene products.

She takes a quick look

at the board on her window

where people enter

when Eminem is speaking to her too loud.

Bruises high on her thigh

from getting hit by a bicycle

a few nights ago

are painted more colorful

than her eyes.

Her son’s trains are derailed

sitting on a sticky tile floor

in a debris of sideways sneakers

and empty Coke bottles.

She is headed from Boston

to Worcester

hoping to return in a week with less poison

in her body, and more clarity

in her thoughts.

First Published

in

Somewhere Lost

Copyright © 2011 by Jasen Sousa

Copyright © All Rights Reserved by J-Rock Publishing

Library of Congress

Cataloging in Publication Data

ISBN  978-0-9714926-7-7