Innocence

fragile like a thread 

unraveling in the hand of the child

an absent-minded lick of a lollipop

a carelessly handshake of a stranger 

an innocent curl of hair with her finger 

she slapped a stick of lipstick to her mouth

a curious look in the mirror

and an innocent slip of  the finger into the throat

Innocent eyes glamorized picture books,  Elmer's glue trickled onto her skin.

Scissors slowly reached the paper but turned to her skin.

Slowly the mirror in her room was replaced with a mirage.

The dolls in her room became her idols they were put onto her shelves instead of her doll house.

She used to play with her Ipad but now she plays with the scale.

She slowly drags in the cigar smoke dragging in from the neighbor boy's coat and soon drags the smell to her lips and blows it out.

Her innocence slipped away from her as quickly as she would slip her clothes from her shoulders.

A man walked up to her and pointed to her body and said you my dear are worth a shiny copper penny and she responded my fathers use to give me pennies for candy at the penny store and dragged a liquor bottle to her lips and fell into his hands.  

Her innocence trailed behind her like lost a puppy.

She tried to hold on to it with her pinky.

Her eyes lost its shine

Her smile lost its luster

and then she was nothing but a penny.