Breathless
(for Jean Seberg)
If you love a girl just maybe
you shouldn’t steal a car
for her. It’s bad manners &
just what am I supposed to do with this?
Like maybe I will take it for a spin
while I slick on some lipstick,
plotting my next move
like a femme fatale,
inscrutable in fishnet
stockings or some various
casting-call bullshit. Oh,
isn’t this poetic. Here’s me,
tracing my lips
over your corpse, pretending
I don’t know you just called me
a bitch in your own language.
Still, I like the compliment,
turning it in my hands
like your scribbled manifestos
that I should have thrown away.
I never told you that. Maybe
there’s a lot those movies do not tell you
about girls like me. Or just maybe
you should have been a better car thief.
