Outside the Brothel

Let's workshop this poem about some cigarette-puffing prostitutes in Brazil!

Outside the Brothel

Bra-less black prostitutes on the hot corner,
careless as to whether a breast tumbles out
in the Brazilian sunset, watch with cigarettes
a suited tourist snap photos of his daughter
frolicking around the statue in front of them:
sundress, blonde doll, blonde curls, dimples.

Evident from their defensive postures, faces
pensive, the two know at least deep down
that the impotence to rule their own lives—
captured now in photos that will live on—
must come so much to the fore, juxtaposed
with such an innocent creature of standing.

This poem is unpublished

Photo: twitter.com/jammastergirish/status/348279781441298432