Alita

Poor Poor Alita from Chickapee Street.

Poor Alita with all the babies

the infants that cling to her bright earrings and yammer and cry with closed fists in suckling mouths

chests hot with restlessness caused by stomachs appeased with powder milk and cheese sandwiches

Oh, Alita

You had so much potential

and all that pretty hair

she made A's

she was the lead cheerleader for East High School.

What does she do now?

she rings up purchases at Family Dollar

she pays her little sister on Friday nights to watch her children

while she and her girlfriends drive in her Pontiac Downtown

where they will drink Ciroc and Moscato

and smoke blunts with strange men.

Oh Alita

Oh sweet little Alita

Freddy and Regina's Alita 

from Chickapee Street

is grown now

poor poor Alita