A girl once

She wore perfume that smelled like a Sunday lie, And lips like rusted knives— A woman like that don’t settle, She just wanders through men’s lives. I gave her my keys and my winter coat, She gave me a goodbye note, Hidden within a half-full bottle And a half-finished murder quote. She was last seen by me at a pawnshop, Trading wedding rings for smokes— She said love is just a shell game, And I was her last broke joke. Now I sleep with the window open, Just in case her ghost blows in— She was jazz in a needle, Additionally, I sinned too slowly. She taught me how to ruin myself With a crooked smile and class— And how to cry like a thief in church in a town that doesn't merit the distance. Now I date my loneliness proper, And wear my shame like a suit— But I still keep that damn perfume bottle, And a postcard she never wrote.