Three Poems by Andrea Lawler

Life is a Book Written by Bukowski

Sitting in the car in the sweltering heat
in the hospital parking lot waiting
for my mother to get off of work
reading Love is a Dog from Hell
and watching passersby walk in and out
of the emergency room
with broken arms
and hearts
and bank accounts.
I put my book down to watch
one boy file out carrying a beat-up
skateboard, the other arm in a sling.
His T-Shirt torn and stained
by young blood. He looks up and
smiles to his Business-Suit-Daddy,
says that at least his skateboard
is okay.
Daddy puts a hand up to his son,
keeps talking on his cellphone.
I hold my book back up,
continue to read
about women who don’t know
when to say enough is enough.

---

 The One Nighter

Crossing the ray of sun
that seeped between the dark
curtains and divided
us down the mattress, you leaned
in and kissed the back
of my bare, pale shoulders.
Sleepy-eyed, with morning
on your breath,

You asked if you could stay.

You left the door open on the way out.

---

 Skin

and when we finished,
I watched
my pale, clammy skin
crawl down from the sheets,
onto the scratched hardwood
floor. dragging pieces of you, pieces
of me out through the open door.

---

about the author:

Andrea Lawler is a young poet and writer out of Bismarck, North Dakota. She is a senior English major at the University of Mary. She once met Billy Collins and believes they are destined to be together.