what happened to annie

just another orphan
she travels the boulevard,
peddling plastic virgin marys
off a stolen broke down shopping cart.

a buck will buy you Jesus,
brown eyes, blue eyes,
she might give you the black one
for free, complete with
chocolate skin and
polyester afro.

sermons cost nothing,
and she’ll tell of the time
she was bought by the man,
the degradation and pollution
that ensued, and followed her
until that grand salvation.
now jesus is her only lover.

you’d never recognize her
except for the halo of curls
burned maroon by the sun.