them, they were

college life

Source: Robert McGowan from Unsplash

upended hands, I’ve learned
aren’t always inviting, palms
traced by
shaky fingers
as if to erase
past qualms

soon constricted
to fists
rivaling straight whiskey
jagged sneers scraping
milk white teeth

them hands
too fluid to watch
shapes, stencils
caked in the
daily grim, smearing
the grease of the eyelids

fuck
leave them
kids
to roam, they can
wipe that
shit from their faces
hurling cucumber slices at housewives

them hands, yes
grasping my split ends
coffee grinds embedded
in my fingernails
when I stick them
in my mouth

i taste
almonds