THE SIREN WITH HUNGRY LIPS AND DIAMOND EYES

You said I'm hungry and

today a soft woman said I was hard

Tough, too

Puts me in mind of a

dame in T-Straps

smoking unfiltered Pall Malls

at Hudlow's Drive-In on Hwy 99

That's not there any more

As a matter of fact,

They bulldozed Hudlows

three years before I was born

No, I am Mildred Pierce, love

You didn't understand when I said

My breasts are arrows

in a wide-shouldered serge suit

I dream of making a fortune in pies

I cry when I see the snake face of

my beautiful daughter and

every time your lips

touch my neck

I shudder to recall faded plots

devised by James M. Cain

I will paint my lips scarlet and

stain my Pall Malls

I will crush them under my T-Straps and

wink at my diamond anklet

I will transfix you, little mongoose

I will spit my love as poison in your eyes

Let us take out insurance

for two hundred fifty grand

I'll drive

You carry the piece

We will go grim-faced

our faces half-shadowed

into the starred Mulholland night

Baby, I can't do it

The yellow checked curtain flaps in my open window

I scrub fluted ivory bowls clean of tapioca

Just a trip down the golden tapioca road

Dorothy and her Cowardly Lion

Baby, swing your magic tail from left to right

and try not to let me see the string

Just slip off my ruby red slippers

and massage my tired feet

between your tender, timid paws

so sweet

copyright (c) 1998, Amy Sterling Casil