words/

denise with the
black and sick-green
painted nails and the 
rat's nest siouxsie hair
hefted each of her knit long sleeves
showed me her arms
etched with words like:
"MAGGOT"
"WHORE"
"TRAMP"
"GROTESQUE"
in block letters
to scare me away
"i'm ugly, on medication and
i cut myself. see?
doesn't that scare you?"
expecting me to make excuses
as to why i had to leave

i smiled sadly, 
not sure how to tell her
i'd share her pain,
if she'd only let me

sharing not in her nature --
she drifted away without waiting for
my response,
ophelia in the weeds