Kristen de Kline #77 - Bloody Plastic Linda 2

Bloody Plastic Linda that ratbag
she's still got a place in your     heart

you picked her up in a heatwave as
railway tracks across Melbourne Metro melted     down

no 'incidents' reported out at Dandenong Pakenham Caulfield
the Limited Express hesitated paused came up for air

inside your Coburg flat you traced a vein in your foot
something get lodged      not in your throat  

wedged, wired     half-way inside your arm    
Bloody Plastic Linda that ratbag     blew you

a kiss   her breath hitting the side of your face
she was a cheap one     tear-stained, tramp stamp

red dot stickers slapped across her flesh
three kilometres you walked     hand-in-hand

down Sydney Road: bridal shops kebab joints surgeries offering male circumcision
heat    you weren't the only one feeling it

power supplies blinked crashed     blinked again
generators rigged up your local pub with Chicken Parma and Schooners for $9.99

the lift in the apartment wasn't working
tenderly,    you carried Plastic Linda up seventeen flights

your first night     together     her propeller-shaped blades clicked over
methodically   while you drank Stella rolled joints recited Ginsberg Stein Bukowski

when day     broke     Plastic Linda lay beside you    
no longer a stranger       her spokes wrangled, tangled

half-way inside your arm heart foot    something writhed
around       melted down for an uncomfortably long time      it wasn't the tracks