| IS SHE A VAMPIRE AFTER HOURS? Our waitress, I noticed Had filed her teeth Incisors poised when she smiled as if preparing to bite Sometimes her upper lip caught there and she would busy herself wiping the counters Turning away to hide Scraping down that errant bit of flesh Into a perfect close lipped half grin again I wondered why If she were daring enough to file and grind and sharpen those pearly whites Would she even bother to keep them under wraps Perhaps she flaunted them outside the café after work Shellacking her lips with crimson color to draw even more attention To her carnivor-like face Striding confidently in her black shiny boots Her dark head thrown back Unrestrained hair streaking behind Taking up the whole crowded sidewalk In a trench coat barely covering her naked knees Her pockets would be filled to overflowing with tips Bills crushed into the clenched fists of her hands Rent money and enough left over For a brand new shiny metal rasp by Sheryl McCurdy |
| POETRY |