Scars: A Prelude
In a dingy basement
Pippi leans over the sink with hot water steaming.
I…
…miss…
…you.
Of a dingy bar
A guitar pick strums harshly over strings
Sound reverberates
In a dingy city
Pippi is lost…
…The Present…
…The Past…
Searching through the rising steam,
Beginnings—
Her reflection in the pooling water.
—are never new.
Dark, exhausted eyes stare down.
Boundaries pushed,
Stare up.
Doors opened,
Pippi shuts her eyes but cannot look away.
Others locked tight.
Somoldering stare,
Keys lost—
Somber silence,
—forgotten.
Blinks blank, blinding bright.
Escape drifted—
Pippi dreams of drowning.
A graffitied door leading to the bar bangs open.
—always out of reach.
Riffs from the soundcheck travel from the stage
Mixes with the din from the dank room.
The flood of wasted jubilation
In the crowded basement
Of a dingy bar
In a dingy city
A voice screams
Debauchery.
Once she had rocked away the nights.
Rolled through her days.
The crowd screams back
Dread.
Both…
…There…
…And…
…Here…
When everything changed.
Pippi cracks an eye.
N0th1ng changed,
The reflection stares back.
The graffiti re-appears, the door shuts
Crack.
Heavy footfalls,
Squeaking metal.
The water stills, curling steam,
D1sguised as beg1nn1ngs.
Ends with a drip.
End1ngs elus1ve.
A tattooed hand moves from the sink.
—el0quent—
Kirri’s voice resonates.
—bent—
“Am I interrupting, Angel?”
—1nc0ngruent—
“The sink about overflowed.”
—unres01ved.
“You look zonked.”
When the b0ard was w1ped,
The tattooed hand rests on shaky white-knuckles.
The p1eces never reset.
Pippi shakes, can’t answer, voice dry, mouth frozen.
The cr0wded b0ard.
Was a question asked?
Rules changed.
Emotion clouds thoughts, Ink clouds emotions.
Ink a drug of dreams
End screens 0verdue.
Words absent.
The game c0nt1nued.
Pippi’s lag—
—an awkward glitch.
“Are you okay..?”
Concern.
World’s Lost.
“Did something happen? Shit, did you…”
Some endured.
“…Pippi, did you ..?”
Ended…
“…Oh Pips.”
…Haunted.
Pippi’s eyes shudder.
Beginnings
A bass drum kick vibrates away
Evaded.
Lids snap over eyes, a cool tear tracks down a hot cheek.
Withered.
Drip-dropping into the still pool.
Regreted.
Ripples ripple.
Longed.
Pippi shatters the water’s surface, her white knuckles bend in the dim light.
Refracted
She pulls the plug, her tear whirls down, away.
Escaped.
Arms drape around her shoulders.
Grace.
The smell of roses shading stale toilet funk.
Submission.
The water drains, her reflection spirals follows her tear.
Comfort.
Pippi leans back into warm embrace.
Created.
She mumbles something.
3
Little
Words.
Hot breath tingles Pippi’s neck.
“It’s okay, Pips…
The embrace tightens into a hug.
Ends are…
In the dingy basement
…We are…
Of a dingy bar
…together.”
In a dingy city
…Only beginnings.
