fixation

straight hooks barbed
claw the world crooked.

she fashions
a debutante’s dress
from lace-delicate dreams
stabbing cloth with pins
dulled by use.

but needles don’t cry
when soft flesh yields
to vice.
fix me,
fix me up nice
so I can smile today.

sixteen looks like sixty
hagged out
dumpster dwelling
thriving on the cast-offs.

seen me sin lately?
cost ya just a buck
and a fix of laughter.
drown my smiles with tears.

lavender lace tourniquet
soiled by stains
best not spoken of
in mixed company.