Before the Bullets

The gangster in
the movie warns
his girlfriend.

They move from shadow
to light to avoid
police or
eccentric twists of fate

All day I've ignored your calls
refusing to talk second
chances or a third time around.
While police work clues like a
a stripper a pole to find
the gangster who grows
more desperate as
you call again
I let it ring ten times.

the gangster refuses kindness
His girlfriend leaves, calls
her mother who tells her not
one thing is worth dying for.

Like a newsreel going backwards
we knew from the start
our ending even the sequels.
It's no surprise when the gangster
falls to a hail of bullets.
The bullets real
insults we exchanged
aimed low -- always. Still sting.

The cops ask the girlfriend
about the money
stolen as his last breath
when he said her name.
“What money?” she says.
They let her go -- to a safe deposit
box, then a plane,the end. I turn TV off
Can't allow myself to blink
but do thinking of her soft skin.
A gnawing need still desires ... I pick up
phone to return her calls.