meat market blues

by Jack T. Marlowe

Bar Girl sizes up
the night's
poor prospects

urchin eyes
and mercenary
smile freshly
painted

for the
parade of
mannequins
who approach

the march of
hollow warriors
armed with
potpourri of
rancid cologne
desperation
and denial

some

looking
for love or
distraction

most

looking
for a hot, wet
remedy
for
a malady
of the soul

"all men are
just interested
in one thing"
Bar Girl
complains

while
dispensing
generous eyefuls
of cleavage
and leg