62 Harlots are hissing on River Street

62                       

Harlots are hissing on River Street

in doorways and stairwells awash with night.

The shadowy voyagers they greet

vanish in an eddy of colored light.

 

Harlots are hissing on River Street,

mouths clotted and bittersweet,

selling with their indifferent breath

a touch of life and a touch of death.