Claine Keily # 20 Shelled

It's all in the way
she peels an orange
they can tell she reads Eliot
it's in the way she greets them
behind sunglasses of blue

It was there
even when she practised driving
then they opened guns on her floor
and she already shelled

Then alone in her apartment
with the radio untuned
even the asphalt below her
knew she dreamed of flowers
and of all the unread messages
too big for her pockets
from friends
she has not touched for years