johnny truant writes a sonnet

Her face was beaten
from the air beneath butterflies struggling to fly
with lashes made of pollen grains
that insects kissed her eyes with
and she dances with fluidity in her limbs
like virus could never flow through her veins
but for now, she settles
for painting the town red
watching sitcoms at 3 in the morning

But she is ballet in a way that makes me born again
watching her wings uncurl and flutter lightly in the wind
because I
have never seen anyone handle uncertainty
with as much grace as she does
teetering on 5 inch heels
fending off judgments on street corners in our mind
where she caters to our every desire
she is frolics at midnight under the moon
and her skin radiates pearls that make oysters jealous
I’m forced to admire her every-day-ness
right down to the crooked toes that I kiss to sleep at night

and the splints society puts her in
only hinders her from spreading her wings,
painting skies with feather tips of perseverance
caught in limbo between honey and vinegar

Her name is Bambi
and she's innocent
like the deers in headlights grinding on your grill
when you’ve got the brights on like diamond studded teeth

She swears she’s not a slut,
she’s just earning her way through college
college – that useless liberal arts degree she’s paying for herself
cause her parents gave up on dreaming long ago

It’s just killing people in different ways, she reckons
dancing on bars like prison cells
in limelights that crust over like deposits on that shower
you swear you’re going to clean out someday
but the calcium keeps beating on your skin til then
so in the meantime,
make it rain on my scarlet letter
cause she uses the wrinkled dollars
to buy a better future

And baby, I’m in love with a stripper
she’s tears after a particularly rough feeling-up
and she’s pin up glory with breasts that surgeons pay to touch
and I love her body like you abuse it
I’ve seen her at her most beautiful
sculpting her face with sink water in beat up jeans
beat up
the way her last boyfriend
used the radiator to love her bones
so I’d patch her up face with concealer and Eskimo kisses

So I will vindicate her from society
because she is written in the arteries
that remind me the rest of my body how to live my life
cause she’s just another chrysalis
that will evolve into an angel and fly
and someday she will spread wings like legs
and take off into the sky