songs for a prison guard ONE

i didnt notice
her missing finger
until our second exchange
when she handed me
a few coins
and a dollar

someone had marked three zeros
after each "1" on the blll
if i could meet them
i'd tell them it was funny

maybe i already have

"there's a correctional institute
off that exit,"

is said inside the car
skating down the freeway
like an aluminum can
holding two candles
moving downstream

and he's having his lunch break
in the tower
feeling paternal
watching the sequences
and steps
of their sportive, concrete dance
to dribbled metronome

shifts in his seat

wearing that belt
has been worth
twenty years of chafing

but secretly
the justification is the satisfaction of taking it off
before getting into his car at dark

of seeing how long he can withstand
the irritation along that dehydrated stripe
and knowing the results
moving down the highway
past teenagers
who stumble along
in flesh toned MIlwaukee braces

moving down the highway
like a corpse
in river tide
towards home