I.
Allison takes the last bus home
slides the metrocard into its allocated spot
12:30 AM
men glare, sneer at her
shout insults tainted with warm alcohol
from their roaring ocean of
blank pavement
she tries to ignore them.

II.
Maybe if she didn’t have to blame herself
for what happened
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man
Maybe she could purify--
clean herself
neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination
of her innate grey sin.
Copies and blue paper cuts from the King James Bible
mark her calloused hands
unto the LORD thy God.
That she would rather wish
to forget.

III.
Looking both ways
Allison steps back onto the pavement
1:00 AM
She makes sure her red skirt
(a birthday present from her aunt, wrapped in pink tissue paper)
doesn’t climb too high above her knees
Slides the key into its allocated spot--
the shouts still follow her to her peeling white doorstep.
If someone tells you
that you can never be too careful
how long must one follow
His doctrine of
Paranoia,
regardless of its innate
grey
broken nature? how long must
you wait
until the shouts stop following you to
your own
Peeling White Doorstep?
How long can You compromise by
choosing to close the door--
Instead of crying for
fragmented salvation?

-C.G.