The mirror speaks her financial advisor
invest in the stocks and bonds
of the soft skin on her arms
softer than the sands slipping through
dirty fingers playing in Jamaica's naked land

Painting distortion
black soot trims her lids like the lining
from all of yesterday's fires
on the chimney's peak
when summer plays
and still the soot remains
without recognition
to the effort that all her smoke gave

And so she gave
it all away
to splay like an astrick across the stage
relaying a forced pride
exhibited through red bull and vodka
she injested to hide
herself
appearing all but the mess
she was
inside

Fun house mirrors
she gazed away her time
and swallowed the shallow compliments
her income easily provides

The only connections made
were snaps
that elapsed between
the green of a smiling bill
'and the elastic of her Gstring

The only thing that saved her
the stripped ounce of dignity
is that they could never see her
only the Riley that they knew her to be

The smile
like the reflection of a vile
injecting the dope into their stream
for a quick fix they couldn't find
in the comfort of their wives' arms

And the same tune played every night
in the less than candle dimmed light
that shadowed the scars on the entertainer's faces
creating the illusions of satisfaction
when the most they had to look forward to
was the long drag of a cigarette
as they emptied their crown royal bags
at the end of the night
leaving to a pillow
that their minds could barely
rest their heads on
dreaming of the inertia of those dirty paws
leaving trails of scum
microscopic
but felt
with each emblem
that burned from their eyes
hot coals on her thighs

They won't take this from me
my freedom of identity
my evidence of purity
policed by my heart
and sold to no one but the deserved
my love they never earned

Just an appearance
a "Hello and Goodbye"
has now justified the means
of my experience

I laugh now knowing how they never
dug up the anatomy of the true me
and I survived their viscious hungry eyes
Wanting even now to shed a tear
for those angels dancing like broken ballerina's
naked on the stage
for those who wish to pay
and feed the devil
for a ticket to the carnival
of an absence of souls

this path I will no longer go....