to a girl

and girl i've gotta say
you really outdid yourself this time.

painful nights peeled from your thoughts
like every inch of skin
he ever touched--
you were left with a thin coating of paper
that you peeled off a bottle,
sloppy in your fringe moccasins and waterproof mascara
announcing, "peeling them
is an expression of sexual frustration"
but when you wrapped it around you, tell me,
did you go to sleep warm for once or
stay up all night with the stars, shivering?

once, you were wild (in a different way)
a junglecat girl
you stood for something and your words read like snarls and war cries
and now: a mannequin
the words melted like your brain from all the drugs and
you can't cry or even touch yourself to sleep
although sometimes, the smoke in your lungs feels
so much better

you're stuck on repeat, girl
and eventually
everyone's going to get tired of hearing
all about love, in different syllables
and your retro theme is just going to fall flat and be
what it is: old bullshit
and if you keep crying over
spilt $5 wine,
the milk might just spill off the offering plate
too, when your eyes are closed
but your hands still reaching out to take
whatever trust you haven't broken yet

and little miss lovely, i know
this is as hard to hear
as it is to write
but you have to learn someday that your honesty,
while admirable, is for all the worst reasons
and will never manifest as his headlights in your driveway
or anything like it.