By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 17 December 1999

Sweet Sucker

standing in the orchard in the tricky twilight
        squeezing the juice out of life
            'til there's nothing left
                   but rind
            licking my fingers
            weaving my spells
             on accidental tourists
   who only dropped by
     for the view
      they weren't counting 
           on this
        they weren't counting
           on the likes of me
  ...a distant encounter
   of the disenchanted kind