letter for dori

sometimes like audrey
sometimes like marilyn

with your feathered artisan earrings
with your wispy hair sacrificed to wind
with your long sleek blue jeans
and the innate coolness and poise
of a runway girl
of a runaway girl
of a runway girl
of a runaway girl

these days your pockets spill
with the dirt you slept in
a strange currency
proving my shallow vision imperfect

you had freak beauty for the masses
an appeal from youth
i was high on your pollution
when you painted the rancid truth
into my flesh
made me wail for more poison

in dark rooms
i wished you
scarred by tattoos
rather than a suicidal father

though these worn heels now imprint
ghosts of sludge from having been near you
it's those things you did to your children
that make you vermin of all i see

and
still you may refuse to believe
you are all for nothing

never dear audrey
merely lost like precious marilyn

first published in Main Street Rag

Slipstream reviews with
michael baskinski:

• Number 20. 2000
• Number 21. 2001
• Number 22. 2002

Slipstream Press announces the winner of the 15th Annual Poetry Chapbook Competition with the release of WHAT LANGUAGE by J.P. Dancing Bear. The chap is filled with rich, honest, and well-crafted poems lifted from life experience which offer the reader fresh insights and lingering images. (40 pages; $7.00 from Slipstream, Box 2071, Niagara Falls NY 14301). Visit Slipstream Press for further information and details.

ALSO: Slipstream #22 is now available from the same address for $7.00. It features the poetry, fiction, and photography by 50 writers, poets, and artists including Liza Porter, Gerald Locklin, Lyn Lifshin, Robert Cooperman, Vincent Tortora, David Hernandez, Dan Sicoli, Catfish McDaris, Donna Michele Hill, Livio Farallo, David Chorlton, Norman J. Olsen, Serena Fusek, Dory Adams, Johnny Cordova, Sarah Freligh, and Martin Vest.