Women

She pulls on the wig to deceive us all
Tonight she will play the character she longs to be
Flirtatious, vivacious, the carnival queen
She allows it to empower her
These newfound characteristics
Her mind is not her own.
As she takes to the dance floor
The flare of the disco ball stitches sequins to her pale unpainted cheeks
Her dress flares and bellows in the gust of our admiration
All eyes are upon her
Twisting and swirling to a tune only she knows the steps to.
The words to the song are familiar to us all
But hold special meaning in her heart
As she recalls the memory of love
That first twisted and then sliced her insides to smithereens.
Her moves take on an unknown force and she begins to stomp her feet
Calling forth memories of a tribal funeral march with each emphatic step.
The music builds to a dramatic crescendo
And she falls helpless to the floor.
The faces turn away from her
It is as if she no longer matters
The back of their heads smite her with every newborn conversation.
All except mine.
I approach her and whisper her name
The name that only I have knowledge of.
Her tear stained cheeks un-tuck themselves
From the safety of her foetal position.
She takes me by the hand
And we break free into the night.

In the nakedness of our embrace
Under the shadow of bittersweet confession
We carve our initials with hammer and sickle
Into the very depths of one another’s hearts
But she has the indecency to mock the words I speak to her
All the sonnets of my affection.
She holds a pillow over my face
And with sweet lullaby circling in my ears
She wills me now to sleep.
As she basks in the finality of my confusion
Her, the ambassador of empty promises
I give my final thoughts to her.

In the morning I find her now removed
And find I am embarrassed by my body.
I investigate and find my apartment strangely empty.
It appears she has taken me for all I am worth.
The canvas I had been slaving over day and night-
The self portrait of my soul
Has been replaced by a lewd doodle
a crude image, a memory of the night before.
I curl into a ball
And clutch her sketch to my chest
Drawn on lined paper, a page removed from my notebook
Which now belongs to her.
Allowing my eyes to fall closed
I hold my breath
And try to find a place to forget the reason why
I can no longer sleep at night.