Laughing Out Loud

on break he tells me—

I ain’t had too many jobs

been hustlin’ most of my life

done time in every prison

in the state

I’ve got five felonies

mostly drug stuff

nothing too violent

I ain’t a killer

like lots of them dudes

I was locked up with

but I’ve seen plenty of shit, man

he’s got a deep, jagged scar

above one eye

a knife

or maybe a beer bottle...

he takes a hit

blows it out, says—

like one time

this chick I knew

blew her old man’s head off

with a shotgun

right in front of me

he was beating’ on her

ya know? (laughs)

not no more...

he gets serious

takes a last toke

offers me the pipe

before he ducks back in

but I wave it away

over his shoulder, he says—

I guess that’s why

I smoke so much weed

then he laughs again

goes back to work

laughing, laughing