I had everything and white knuckles
Metallic two way mirrors
A kink in a slinky
A dent in Ray Ban sunglasses
And a greasy trailer hitch on a Mercedes
I had a baggy pencil skirt
And toupee tape holding my tube top on
Chinese characters on my French manicure
A red pea-coat in my closet to wear in snow

A photographer clings to a chain link fence
To capture the coat against the Oreo dust grey sky
But it’s not me wearing it
I don’t have perfect eyebrow tweezer shaped legs
Or the starry grin that makes pigeons sway on street lamps
I don’t have matching lacey bras and panties
Or Peonies in a Safeway vase from the handsome boy on the corner

But I get to swing my legs on chain link fences
And watch the girl I should be in my red coat
Flag aimlessly at mustard taxis
While I dance alone on telephone lines all the way home
As blood returns to my knuckles and flushes my exhilarated cheeks
I realize- What I’ve got’s better