Dead Man Walking

A penny for your thoughts.
Are you thinking about your girlfriend? Are you thinking about what to ask for dinner? Are you thinking about dawn that grabs you?
I see your arm, tattooed and strong, the tendons hardening just enough to allow you to grab the bottle through the bars. Your eyes are normal, not ferocious, not naive, not good, not bad, just a common childish blue.
“Don’t make contact”, they taught me in the preparatory course, “don’t personalize”…