Bradley David Waters
Outstanding
She snorted crank on her pinky nail from a Carmex jar.
They were still milk glass and I liked small things,
so she said ten bucks and I meant full.
She seemed trustworthy or her hair was nice
or she looked me in the eyes more than twice.
My hair, longer than hers, walked the stage with
Loveliest Locks, dirt straight and clear of crank.
She was so kind to take my money and run,
each day that bad year, looking me in the eyes
sort of smiling,
sort of getting me here.
Bradley David Waters is a California-based visual artist and writer of poetics, beyond-genre, and creative nonfiction. His work appears in DIAGRAM, Denver Quarterly, Terrain.org and numerous other publications and anthologies. Bradley is also the senior editor of hybrid and beyond-genre works at JMWW Journal. He and his husband steward land for wildlife habitat, grow heirloom apples, and adopt poultry.