A POEM - HER NAME WAS NICKY BUT SHE WENT BY SHORTY

HER NAME WAS NICKI BUT SHE WENT BY SHORTY
She pulled over and I hissed,
“it’s about fuckin’ time.”
I hadn’t been waiting all that long,
But sometimes waiting at all could be too long.
“where you goin’?” she asked me.
“west,” I said, a silly grin on my face.
It always made me smile to be going west.
“as far as you’re goin’, if that’s all right.”
“yeah, I saw you standing here before.”
“yeah, I’ve been standing here a while.”
“how long?” she asked, not really caring.
“long enough to see the sights, ha.”
“yeah, the sights. All the sights of Horsham.”
I put my big pack in the back of her ute,
And snuck my little bag in below my legs.
We drove off into the afternoon sun.
“you mind if I smoke?” she asked.
“huh?”
“does smoking bother you?”
“naw, no. of course not.”
“do you smoke?”
“yeah, sure.”
“you wanna cigarette?”
“yeah, okay.”
She passed me a cig and I lit it up.
We drove off towards the west,
Smoke in our lungs, the sun overhead.