she i her me

Flew in and out of shelters like a pigeon through abandoned buildings
She never admitted that she did though
She somehow managed to look normal, smell less than others there
She stole without prejudice or guilt from everybody she could and like a raccoon she did all this at night
Climbing over the tides of stench & filth
Reaching her arm down deep
Into the calloused bodies
Pulling her arm out with at least one valuable
She knows where to sell everything from hair to teeth
One night, I was spared of the usual drowning in the washbasin dream
Only to dream of
her catching me asleep with my mouth open
She reached elbow and all
Down my throat
& let her nimble fingers search for buried treasure
She found my mother’s locket that I swallowed at the age of 3
There were pictures of her parents in there
Ma was so angry that I lost it
I never told her how