I imagined angels because I was alone for so long

They followed me for over a decade-- with their wild hair,

shiny broken teeth, lopsided wings. When I really

needed them they twittled my hair around their yellowed

finger tips. Sometimes I saw them in my cigarette smoke--

And I'd hear them in my head, sense

them staring down from the ceiling. --They read every

word I wrote. Once, when I needed to be alone, I put a blanket

over my head and wrote Leave me/Leave me 111 times. I burned

the paper over the bath tub, watched it curl like pubic hairs

before vanishing into a pile of ash I rinsed down the drain.

But they didn't go away. They whispered

is she going to eat. They laughed

too, when I 'd walk into a bed post or trip
over a snail. Though menacing, they were always

on my side-- good angels, and like me --outcasts,

who never knew when to go away.