"pick it up"

pick it up

A/N: Thank you to S. for putting in the line breaks for me.

she dropped a beat somewhere early in this slate sky early late winter day
and forgot in all the chaos to pick it back up

half eight and she's banging down on her boyfriend's door,
man, don't you know this kid ain't gonna drive herself to school?
and the beat pulses in her pocket like a dead man's missing heart
while he shuffles sleepy and sheepish looking for shoes

one two one two one two and

the way the world spins turns whirls
(faster than men's heads when she come by in those jeans)
drops her from where she was dropping off her daughter
pico de gallo burrito warm kiss on cold air
at tzarich cama devar ken aval ma?
And she hit the ground,
less like an egg hits the floor -
with all the urgency and bruises of a lockdown drill -
and less of the shatter of glass on pavement but more like

one two one two one

one

one two

and can't shake that sick feeling of something lost forever

she's choking on her own thoughts by four
like they're dry swallowed pills,
dry heave at the bitter taste and constricted throat
and the world, it don't care if she wanna get off


the cold is forever, she says
because in hell even permanence be some comfort to the damned
cold is forever, she says
gulps down ice like ocean death like nicotine like that kiss she can't have

one two one two

slam of horns slam of breaks loss of light loss of life
spin like you want a simple gift
spin til you outspin the sick stomach and spin again until you drop break fall

on your knees with your hands in the air the only way the world gonna take you

don't bother
don't even front
ain't no other way
and don't say that hard cold gravel pavement frozen ground wet grass don't feel a little bit like redemption soakin through your stockings don't don't even

maybe
like a dropped penny it's there
in the grass

on your knees
hands up
only way you take the world

one

one two

one two one two one two

pick it up child
breathe

one two one two one two one two ...

Mairi Graham-Shaw
© 2014


Image links to its source on Wiki Commons
“foto 1” - Augusto De Luca
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