Found puddled
In her moist
Marriage bed,
Roiling with
Palmetto bugs and anger -
This insouciant flapper girl,
Former white-gloved
Debutante.

Dental records
Reveal only
A mistress of conjecture,
A dealer
Of rough
Romantic justice -
Saliva and lies
Her unkind currency.

Dry coughing
In a xeriscape
Of her own desicated design,
Perpetually pacing her balcony -
A widow's walk
Of bourbon and tobacco,
Incubating
Passion's stillborn issue.

Her final vision-
Dried, cracked blood
In the creases of her palm.
Her final utterance,
Hoarse yet defiant -
"Mi corazon!"
Echoing through
The elevator shaft.

02/09/2006

Author's Note: Efforts to fumigate Apt. 3B have thus far been futile. The lingering smell is sickly-sweet and unsettling.

Posted on 02/09/2006
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