Condom queen

By Rose Conley

Swathed in

Dull light

And

Memorabilia from

The 90’s

The smell of sweet smoke

Is everywhere

And choking

Better than a

9-5 Though

People step in to the doorway

Everyday

Women in their 40’s

Buying toys

Their husbands leaving them

Aching wanting and

Unsatisfied

Girls

Buying condoms

Because their partners

Don’t.

Boys who run in

And laugh at intimacy

And then

The man smiling with no

Teeth

Coming in

And touching himself

By the dvd section

Laughing when we

Caught him

The girls are so pretty

Creaks out of

His toothless grin

It’s not much.

But it’s a living.

Featured in Basement Babes, Issue 14