Dignity

In a square cracked mirror
Of a motel bathroom
Mere yards from the highway
And speeding 18 wheelers

Where whores and drug addicts
Pay by the hour
And homeless indigents hang by corners
Holding signs of ragged cardboard

Where desperation lives
Despair thrives
And jesus is something you say under your breath
Or the lack of a reason to wake up tomorrow

While god is alive in the static of airwaves
And billboards that stare you down
He died for your sins
They tell you

And you wonder what you got
For his effort

And how many sins will be

Enough

Where death the Great Equalizer of us all
Hovers in wait,
Ready to pounce
And your days are numbered

You just don’t know how high

Blood red lipstick
Streaked across silver
Scrawled in a shaky hand
Bleeding at an angle

Denouncing, declaring, decoding, defiant

The only thing that is yours alone,
The only thing that’s yours to keep
The one thing no one can take from you
Without your explicit or implied consent

D
I
G
N
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T
Y