.................................
Live Bait
.................................

i met him at a bar
cut bait
classically handsome with
goldilock hair
parted to the side
slung low over one eye like
a broken shade
or a hipbelt he bought
me a drink-
the usual
"you're hot,
i know,
name,
name..." and then we
were off, necking hard against
brownstones and vintage new
york doorways
and i was on my own
the eighties that-girl
bumping her crotch against
a freshly bought pair
of 501's. at his place we stripped,
did shots
naked and hardly
talked, he sat on the couch,
"sit on it"
was all he said
and i couldn't
because i wasn't broken yet
so i made an excuse about not
liking
it
that way
and we climbed into bed and he went to
work
the worst was the boredom,
the stitch of the ceiling
and his tonic-drenched breath
heaving in heartbeats. i slipped out
as he had
at the end
as he slept
left my number
but knew better than that.

.................................
Hillary Joyce
.................................

 
Copyright © Hillary Joyce
March 1996

...a story in this room by Evan Sage...
"flowers, all my life only flowers..."
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