The ladies of ill-fortune stand
In Pike Street pool hall doorways
Waiting for lonely men in pickup trucks.
Across the street, the city-installed
Nativity scene is floodlit
Bright as New Years in Times Square.
Pastel-painted plastic shepherds
Precede wise men on orange camels
Approaching a blue-lit stable.
Christmas blue highlights the features
Of the leather-jacketed, bleach blond girl
As she smiles warily into the Sierra Grande.
 

Index     Walking the West Fork