She Doesn’t Deserve This

by John Rocco

She told him
this crazy story about herself.
When she was young she
went out with this guy too old for her
did too many drugs
and told her mother she would kill herself.
They came and handcuffed her
and took her away in an ambulance
still handcuffed
to this drafty tower
where she was handcuffed to a bar
on the wall
alone
except for a dead guy.
She knew he was dead immediately
but they left him there
with her for four hours
to teach her about death.
They came four hours later
covered him with a sheet
and finally took him away.

He asked her: “Didn’t it scare you?”
But she said: “No. It was just
a dead guy. I knew he was dead.
He smelled and I just wanted them
to take him away.”

It was Beauty
and Death
in that tower
and she fucking won.