By Misti Lake
Date: 5 February 2001
Remembering Greg
you called me Sassafrass
and Miss Priss
your voice was always filled with affection
the truest warmth I knew
you made me feel big
not small and inconsequential
you smoked your cigarettes and told your jokes and
gave me your "Magical Mystery Tour" album
and read me the story
about John and Little Nicola
and when I first learned how to pray
I prayed that you would come home soon
and you would get married and have kids
and everything would be wonderful wonderful
like John and Yoko kissing on the cover of "Double Fantasy"
this was before I knew what prison was
this was before I knew what gay was
and speed labs
and stolen credit cards
and...you in Seymour suffocating in a darkness
I still can't comprehend or accept
you couldn't scream for help
you couldn't stop it
goddamn them all for looking the other way
covering up
smiling for the camera
my grandmother still leaves gifts on your grave
and I know she's going crazy from the guilt
God can't wash it away
and I remember that night
I came to you asking for help
and you told me to give Jay up
said that true love would surprise me
"one day you wonder if it will ever happen...and then you wonder
where the motherfucker came from"
oh, Greg
I know how it hurts when they take your paint and make a
cheap paint by numbers
but you hung it all on your wall
like me
you took the cheapness
and never asked for more
my heart will always be sore for you
I hear "The Rose" and cry
driving past your house
the grass is growing so high
you can't see the Fiat
from the road.
Back to the Heart-on-Sleeve Corner