“BENNINGTON GIRL”

These old bones live to learn her wanton ways: / (I measure time by how a body sways). — Theodore Roethke

the body 
     of the Bennington girl was found 
          a Hail Mary from the New Haven Line 
               by a jogger in a high-cut leotard

the officers were not happy 
     being assigned 
          a shapeshifting 
               archetype

& while Paul
     the old flatfoot, was certain the B girl 
          was bound for Canal St. 
               to hawk jewelry for an abortion

the baby conceived 
     at a sorority mixer at a nearby boarding 
          school famous for producing ski champions 
               & sex scandals

Jack, the rookie
     remembered the rules of attraction 
          & thought
               “Why did she have to act so fucking cool?” 

both men agreed she was not 
     the heiress to Ocean Spray, 
         this would buy them some time
               and please the Chief

whose blue eyes 
     are vacant tombs 
          that say,
               it’s just another dead girl.  

— Damon Hubbs is interested in pulpy paperbacks and films with over-saturated colors. His poems have been featured in Book of Matches, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Otoliths, Roi Fainéant Press, Cajun Mutt Press, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Horror Sleaze Trash, The Beatnik Cowboy and elsewhere. Links to his most recent published work can be found at dmhubbs.blogspot.com. Damon lives in New England.