She smoked cigarettes behind the barn;
snuck a drink of her daddy's whiskey,
read "God's Little Acre"
before the rest of us,
and was way too popular with the boys,
got stamped at post office
more than any girl should.
She wore off the shoulder blouses,
skin tight jeans and an ankle bracelet.
Lawd, we admired her, but truth is
she was already doomed.
Her parents were divorced!
Her granddaddy hide his liquor
in chicken feed sacks.
We saw it coming, knew in fact
she was going down a path
no decent girl should go.
Ah, well, at fourteen she was pregnant,
left this town and never came back.
That's what happens when you're ruint.
Sue Scalf
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