By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 27 December 1999

Safety Rules

dance around naked to "Lump"
if you feel like it
look in the mirror and say
DAMN!!!
be faithless & fruitful
be free
get in your truck and drive
to the nearest 
mountain, ocean, canyon
or ball park
send Emporio scented love letters
to Leonardo or Matt or Ben
write the story of your life
in 500 words or less
read every book ever written
by people who overdosed
or blew their brains out
write his name on your
left breast in turquoise or fuschia
but don't sit in the dark
listening to the "Twin Peaks" soundtrack
and don't wear the lingerie he
gave you
and don't read the letters
and poems he
sent you
and don't remember
how safe you felt
when he pulled you close
and said,"How have you been?"
and kissed you so softly
like snow falling down
-don't go there
[you'll die]
and if you feel like calling him
just to hear his voice
scratch out his cell phone #
with black ink
and send an e-mail
to someone
who lives so faraway
there's no danger
involved...