Meet Up

she came into

the bar, ordered

a double shot

of tequila

told me

she had just come

from an AA meeting

she was lonely

it was written on her face

the way she swayed and

seemed tolerant

to almost anything

that I could possibly say

she was excited to meet me

said her AA group

was routing her on

to make a new friend

and then she launched into

how she had lost custody

of her two daughters,

because she had beat up her husband

we went to a new bar and

she told me that out back,

she had pummeled a girl so bad

that the pictures of the bruises

were being used against her in

her custody trial

I couldn't say anything back

to her, it was too ratchet

she seemed so sweet

until the stories came out to be

something completely

off kilter

sometimes meeting new people

is fascinating and

here I was, thinking I'd be weird

or make her uncomfortable

by being myself

but she had won

this round, with really

no applause