Wind Blown Curls Poem by Amberlee Carter

wind blown curls
ivy restraints and
lily knots-


the local grocery store
was full
of people, exotic pets and hometown faces-

love's smiling awkward from an innersex-
where we scream from
some unknown abyss-
up and down the isles,
between the frozen sections
' price check '
our dreams and hopes,
dollar-ninety-five for soap-
laundry day arrives too late
or maybe too early-
resolve of innocence
maybe we've not enough stains
to remove,
maybe we've not enough sins
to be redeemed.

I'm thinking of the bagboy,
he's 17 still in school,
his eyes say he's going away
to a big college in the east,
but when 'she'
walks through the door,
you see in bold
the blue light special
terror takes over his expression-
he has to go away from her
and you can tell
it is his one regret-
he knows it, she denies it,
but for now he's managed
enough noble humility to
clean up the spill on isle 5-

friends laugh and joke,
'she' tosses her hair,
tightening the restraints-
he looks to the ground for the lily.