Poetry by Melodie Yvonne

Originally published online Feb 12, 2021 & in the collection I Do Heroin On The Train Line So You Don’t Have To: A Hitchhiker’s Guide To My Galaxie — available here

⚠️ Explicit Content Warning
This poetry excerpt from I Do Heroin On The Train Line So You Don’t Have To contains material relating to drugs and gun violence

The Ballad of Hayden Pike by Melodie Yvonne

Just got a new house, but we’re playing pretend
Somehow we don’t know it, don’t know it’ll end
But Merlin’s been supplyin’ to our southern kin
And I told them to not let those fucking people in

It’s just been 3 months, but the walls bleed our sins
It’s suckin’ our souls like we’re stuck in quicksand
But somehow this shit storm’s about to get worse
We’ve been teasin’ the devil and he’s ‘bout to quench his thirst

Broke glass rips the night like a banshee in heat
Didn’t think a shotgun & my face’d ever meet
“Get down on the ground!“ cuts through me like a knife
Didn’t think I would die on a night like tonight

I shut my eyes super tight ‘til there’s nothin’ but dark
Now I’m prayin’ somehow that this gun play don’t start
Just prayin’ and prayin’ they’ll at least end it easy
Just kill me real quick, but at least save the baby

They duct tape us real tight so we won’t get away
Because I’m “with child” they give me some sway
But somethin’ about that tone in his voice
Told me real fuckin’ quick he wasn’t just bein’ nice

“The drugs and the money is what we are after!”
I said “I got money,” but they answered with laughter
“Gerald Lee, go on & look in the freezer,”
“We won’t hurt you, lil lady. We’re their fuckin’ reapers.”

Then just like that as quick as it started
A few empty threats and then they departed
And nothin’ was left in that after math of violence
‘Cept the ripping of duct tape through deafening silence

It really is true, those goblins’ll get ya
If you keep on smitin’ the hand that begets you
You wait & you watch & you look for the signs
But we don’t really want ‘em when we’re toin’ the line

All we can feel is the jones of an addict
We barely got out, but we just need some practice
“Next time we’ll be ready, and draw our guns first,”
“No more fuckin’ around. They’ll go home in a hearse…”

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