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I said to her "You and I could never be together, because you spend your money on tattoos." And she said to me "You don't understand. You get to go on trips to faraway places. I don’t get to, but I have always wanted to. My tattoos are my faraway places." But like most of my working-class friends, the ones with tattoos and piercings, she was just not very good at math. At the time that I met her, she had already spent as much money on tattoos as at least two trips to other continents. And if you count the amount she spent on cigarettes, that may have added up to another three trips. Spending her money on those things was just not thinking about tomorrow. Each tattoo is only a few inches in size. Maybe at most, one might be 10 inches. And each cigarette is even smaller. You need to dream bigger than that. |
Copyright ©2018 Ashi Shadow -1/12/18
First half on Josie, second half on Allison and others.
I considered making second line of dialogue “Because you have tattoos”.
“I don’t get to, but it has always been a dream of mine \ To go to Europe.”
“I don’t get to, but it has always been one of my dreams \ To go to Europe.”
Was in one revision just “I don't get to, but I have always wanted to.”
But the poem was always intended to have “Europe” and “dream(s)” in these lines.
Considered “And if you count how much she spent on cigarettes,” and “if you count her spending on cigarettes”
Other snippets I had considered: “There is a point to this story that goes beyond her. / You need to save up money /rather than spending it on stupid things.”