just dont

There’s an Applebee’s across the way
and my grandpa always told me never go there
its full of creeps and wives and spitting children
there’s grime on the walls and grudge in their hearts
its a terrible place with decent bacon, he said.
of course i went there,
of course i did because he told me not to.
and when i came out, there was blood on my hands
and on my shirt, what was left of it.
and so i took a picture of myself,
looking like a newborn baby - all bloodied -
so that when i told my children never to go there,
they’d fuckin’ listen.