His crooked smile said it best,

but the words he spoke said it all,

“I just glanced in the mirror. Things aren’t going so good…

I’m looking California and feeling Minnesota.”

Then he lit up a cigarette,

taking a drag like there was no tomorrow.

I couldn’t help but admire the way he held it between his lips.

The look in his eyes told me more than the words coming from his mouth.

Even the smoke that rose to form a halo around his head

of this unsuspecting saint seemed to be sacred.

It was then I felt a kinship with him,

this stranger who had stumbled into my world quite accidentally.

I didn’t know him from Adam.

It was a “friend of a friend” kind of thing.

His soul had touched mine in a way I couldn’t explain.

It was kinda creepy, but nice, if you know what I mean.

We  find that we belong to the same “club”;

the one where admittance is exclusive,

but for once you’d rather your name wasn’t on the list.

Inhabiting the same crazy fucked upside down world

where everyday people go about their lives,

while we, on the other hand,

can’t help but be all tangled up in what we feel.

So when I hear him rambling on in his gritty Marlboro man voice,

“Everyone seems either so perfect and perfectly delicious,

or so utterly repulsive to me at this very moment…”

I can’t help but laugh at how much I can relate.

Belinda Collinge

12-6-07