Stephanie Hiteshew

Trail

My trail,

a sharp echo
left by a
glass syringe

descending
on my waiting
pale white skin

early this morning.

 

Immunity

A red flush
roars through
the green shaft
into my arms,

almost like
a vaccination
for this world,

and not
some random
street drug
that I’ve been
hooking for.

 

Pretend

Let’s not hustle.
Let’s pretend
we don’t use drugs.
Hold me while
we’re dope sick.
Love me
under the covers.

Let’s walk by
the dope dealers.
Let’s act like
regular adults,
not the junkies
we really are.

Play pretend
‘til we come
off the nod.
I swear the truth
is so much closer
than you thought.
Let’s pretend.

 

Stephanie Hiteshew  lives, writes and takes photographs in Ellicott City, Maryland.  Among her collections  are Billy and Cindy, a doomed  love story, told in an exchange of letters, written with the late small press legend Dave Church. Also from Alternating Currents, is her book of poems about her drug addicted life experiences as a troubled youth, Under a Bridge. She as at work on another collection reflecting life experiences, Angels, from which these poems are selected.