Life was supposed

to be filled by endless
choices:
older men, faster cars,
designer drugs,
imported vino primo,
all laid out on a
banquet table for
the taking but it all
ended up in the back
of cramped convertible
cars seats, up against
a wall in school yards,
church parking lots,
cemetery stones,
knocked up twice by 19,
no man, no job, no skills,
nothing but a serviceable
pay-by-the-hour body,
deluxe accommodation
extra, just don’t ask
for the affection to
be real; after hours
her body is all used up,
no time for tears,
her children’s or
her own.

Alan Catlin has been publishing for the better part length six decades. Among his most recent full-length books is Exterminating Angels (Kelsay Books) Kelsay will also be publishing his full-length poetic study of the life and times of Diane Arbus, How Will the Human Heart Endure? in 2023.