you butterfly danced
my heart pounded strong
I gazed with magnet eyes
as you lifted off
but I couldn't fight
your flight to beyond to
fly north for the summer
to settle with winged ones
to be free to flutter without
the wet and heat
of the south and my mouth
and a rain of phonemes
won't cool you off?

door to door, girl to girl

People going door to door around here a lot more than in west knoxville. I've had a bunch of guys come to my door trying to sell security systems. It seems like a good idea, but my cello is insured and I can't convince myself that it would protect me against rape or homicide. I don't like the way they beep either.

My doorbell rang the other day and I looked through the peephole (something I never did out west) to find two girls my age.

"Hello maam. We're seeking friendly, non-violent people. Are you friendly and non-violent?"

I tried not to laugh but it was impossible. "Yeah, I'm friendly and nonviolent."

We have 150,000 points currently which puts us in fourth place, so we're doing everything we can to get up to second place at least."

I didn't know what the hell they were talking about, but it sounded like a game I wanted to play. Then she handed me a brochure about Hawaii and some kind of contest. It wasn't until I opened it that I realized they were trying to sell magazines. Ebony, Spin, Backpacker Magazine....
Her friend just stood there. She was a really pretty girl with dark hair and dark eyes, but she looked bored. Or stoned. And kept looking around in different directions.

I really wasn't interested but I asked about the cost of Spin.
"Yes maam." she replied. That made me feel like an asshole. They scanned the price sheet trying to find the magazine (surely they were in alphabetical order) but after a minute of standing there while they searched for the price together, I said "Nevermind. Uh... what about the backpacker magazine?" They found that one, but I told them I couldn't afford it. I sensed that they were relieved to finally come across a girl close to their own age because they kind of lingered, even after I was obviously not interested in their magazines.

"So.. do you guys go to school around here or...."

"No. I want to go into the army though and they make you take 10 hours of college classes so I'll do that and then I'll go into the army and I WILL achieve my dream," the girl on the left said (then gasped for air). Actually, I think she rehearsed everything she said to me.

I asked the pretty, bored girl "What about you? Are you in school?"

"No (pause). I'm in cosmetology school."

"You guys should be careful around here."

"Yeah this guy down the road chased after us a few minutes ago. We finally got away"

"Shit. Have you tried to go further west?"

"Naw.. we're getting picked up out here." They stood there for a minute, then she asked for a class of water. I felt sorry for them. Their only hopes of escaping Knoxville depended on winning this crazy contest, which was probably a scam in the first place. They wanted to jet off to Hawaii, yet they weren't even able to travel five miles to sell magazines to people with real money in safe neighborhoods.
Anyway, I hope they won and are sitting on the beach right now forgetting all about getting chased down, getting hit on, getting sweaty in the heat, getting points, and getting judged by me.