A Collision.
Just one more love story is all
Smoke fills lungs.
Pop Smoke reverberates
Into the night
On Harlem Avenue to Madison.
Welcome to the West Side.
Breathe in, and exhale to
Black leather interior.
a man and his girl
hardly faded
fall in love again
together
vibe higher.
Turn down at Austin
Leave out for the Dan Ryan
South Side night life calls.
A calloused, gentle hand passes a blunt
to a woman with a young smile and a glint
of rapturous, peculiar
Somewhat unexpected
Life.
No one can see her but him.
Tinted windows all around
Just the two of them ride on.
He says they’ve been rocking
for a minute now.
she nods and flashes a smile.
A woman doesn’t know what love
Can be
until
the past calms down enough within
and she could keep it silent long enough
till there’s nothing left to do
but welcome new life, new Love in.
She takes a long drag off what’s left,
closed her eyes.
leaned back as they hit it
and Accelerate onto the expressway.
he saw the girl for what she was.
Put her on. Got her hair done, clothes, shoes, a cute little lighter from Chinatown;
Toys, food, and clothes for her baby.
but what she wanted.
how she preferred.
let her be.
let her shine.
deep down he thought,
through a cloud of smoke at 70mph
the girl was his, maybe.
Belonged to him. probably.
almond eyes with hints of honey under the sun.
straight locks that curled up in the heat
just like his.
but she wasn’t ever fully his. he accepted it.
the night brought on the way she had lived
haunted memories all along I94 met them there.
Even as they cruised down the road to
brighter, loving, beautiful
new memories.
further south
a life lived left behind
again.
every time they did this drive together
the demons became less visible
visions became foggier
death became less looming
the sites less ominous —
the red line, the dan ryan, the way
becoming less intrusive to
the present Life.
she was a little baddie.
he looked at her laced up, thighs peeking out
From under a black leather miniskirt
but, he thought
cracked the window of the driver’s side,
flicked a stub of a blunt out the way
turned up the song
shorty be catchin’ mood swings
get off your knees
you aint gotta cry to me
i’m your best friend you ain’t gotta lie
you gonna see the bigger picture,
it’s just gonna take time
through the storm, you know
we can make it through.
shorty a little baddie.
she my little boo thing.
a hand reached out at 111th.
She took it.
they rode on.
