Alaska and the Letter Z in the Middle.

[the tourist]

the young were naive, saying and doing things that would haunt them
taunt them and flaunt
themselves around like a fresh, crisp five dollar bill
still waiting to be spent for a first time in the sunlight by a little girl
with brown hair; an ice cream come is all she wanted
but lust took hold
bold as the contrast of a striking film, hot projector in May
when her birthday came and she went away and lost herself among the world
never weary, always smiling; everybody
has a story
about the one that got away (the one they pushed away) -- we murder
the future and overthink it in a magazine headline sort of way
like the gossip about Joe and John and Marilyn
a bottle of pills, a gunshot, a hitting streak
and everything burns in the end because we pour the gasoline
and light the match
and watch the burning vinyl spin
and what once was so clear turns
black.

and eight years later, she still is on my mind and i can't seem to shake
what might have been if i hadn't asked her something
she couldn't give me, haunting my dreams at night she tells me she loves me
and laughs and laughs and laughs
so happy and i awake
and i awake
and i awake.