By scqueen
Date: 30 December 2000
Discovering Amsterdam
She paces like a caged animal
in a glass menagerie
circling her cell
waiting for the next pray
who will be the next to pay?
I remind myself
that this is her job
but is it her choice?
I wonder if she has a lover
or a child at home
or if she lives in this
see-through strip mall
of cheap lingerie and indecent exposure
She calls out to me
through the top half
of her open window
perhaps she knows that
I'm a gawker and not
a potential customer
Her catcall kills my curiosity
as I realize I had thought
myself invisible
So this is the red-light district
where the freaks and the beautiful people
share the same street
but not the same reality
I lower my head and slink back
to my hotel
barely noticing the infamous
penis statue that marks her
territory
Back to the Heart-on-Sleeve Corner