It was the role of a Lifetime, but she couldn’t accept.
She passed on the chance with a twinge of regret.
It was clearly off Broadway but it would have run long.
A role some would die for, but the timing was wrong.

It had started one night with a casting couch call
from a powerful man – a slob more broad than tall.
Promises whispered, but would they be kept?
Had the mega- producer enjoyed his starlet?

The review came positive in a ladies’ room stall.
Cinderella was late for more than the ball.
She who couldn’t resist, and then couldn’t complain,
now had a pregnancy she couldn’t explain.

While she thought she might, one day have a child,
surely not with this stranger, this crude *******.
A girlfriend loaned her  money;she went there alone,
She kept the appointment she’d made on the phone.

Her calves in the stirrups; her heart in denial,
The deed was done quickly in back alley style.
She nearly bled out; it was botched from the start
But the abortionist did manage to still one beating heart.

Just a face in the crowd; not a name many knew.
She had some bit parts then she faded from view.
These days her tale is on everyone’s tongue:
How the wolves of Hollywood  devour the young.

I miss
the forest of
        your magic
    as it winds its
                  tattooed way
through the
          serrated textures
                  of nightfall
all up inside
          my vertebrae
the soft wind
       rustling in your
elms,
outstretched to me
                   like arms
as stars burn through
       this brewing sky
in molten,
    fiery charms
They beckon to me
unexpected
          in quiet      
      apertures of subtle
they sneak upon me,
          unprotected,
when I'm sunken
in my tunnel
and sometimes
              in the
                   quiet stream
of the lonely, sacred night
I hear a whisper
whirring soft
as it permeates
            my spine
I let it take me over
                   as I sit,
slumped,
     in the bath
it creeps and seethes
over my wet skin
eats out my silent wrath
I let it
       fill my senses
as I walk inside
                 the deep
and on wooded paths
of solitude's carpet of leaves
when I feel
no soul is watching
     the deer start shyly peeking,
  and lynx resume their stalking
then long slashes
                  of ache
are reawakened
           from their lair
snaking through my ribcage
choking up my hollowed air
        yet, somehow
        in the longing
of bottomless, falling space
I see in distant, faded visions:
the precious contours
of your face
and so,
like an enchanted
          secret box
I open you,
inhale the confetti
of your floating stars
wave them over and through
my strands of vein,
my tripped out,
           healing scars
your essence
       penetrates
my presence
   like misty mountain rains
seeps inside my pores
opens up
       striations
of seismic,
      writhing pain
Your invisibility
            takes form
and then
            in sudden,
whipped-up heat
        it pours out in
honeyed rhythm
       to our own
             invisible beat
and just like that
I get taken.
Overcome
by slakes of love
rushing through my
arteries
like sweet
    manna
from
    above

Young Love©

She has been the twinkle in my eye
Since we were knee high

The girl next door
Who I love galore

With hair the color of straw
I have loved her since the first time I saw

The one for me
Can’t my parents see

You’re too young to engage
Is the advice so sage

But we’ve held hands for far too long
Our connection oh so strong

Playing house is no longer a game
I want her to take my name

We’ve talked a lot
About taking this shot

Since holding hands
In the stands

This is our last chance
For romance we said at the dance

We have a plan and some saving
Hoping there will be less raving

So we here are full of hope
As we head off to elope

Andreas Simic©