By Ruby in the Dust
Date: 4 September 1997

Trying to Explain the Attraction

He has the look of the doomed on him, you
Can always tell them. They will die, they are
losers, musicians, junkies, drunks. Phoenix
That will not rise again. Beautiful
Their smiles dance the boundary between
Supplication, placation, surrendar.
Their down-tilting boy-eyes say
Please.

She has the look of the condemned, she
swirls around him like a leaf, like
water leaping down
the drain, she wraps her arms around
his neck, smiling tenderly
like a drowner, like one watching a drowning,
like one watching a comet scream
to the ground, eyes chained, a satin
razor slipping into the skin
around her heart, she
carries her dungeon
deep.




The vultress swoons through the air, swoops down
No, no, not for the kill. Just
To cringe at the death.
Soft tears drop from hard eyes.