Older woman
25 to my 19
dark eyes like
grey gun barrels
Manson family eyes
believing and
unblinking eyes
seeking a cult of two.

Eyes that gaze at me
or any man
like that
should be plucked
from their sockets
sent back
to the factory.
(How did mine look at you?)

Should have run
but the lure
of playing god awhile...
(Or was I the one kneeling?)

You said
he was gone
he took his clothes
his yelling
his fists through walls
and other women’s lipstick
and hickeys on his neck
with him when he left.

So I basked
in your believing glow
until the phone calls
stopped
and I drove by your house
saw his car in the driveway.

The calls started again
when he left again
relentless ringing
calls at work
when I said *******
took the home phone
off the hook.

Not even god
could handle
your voice shrieking
from your rejected soul
telling me how
you’d punch me in the face
when you next saw me.

You were a bit taller
and much more insane
so I laid low for awhile
a god face down in the dirt.