Tangerine
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1.Patterned stockings under folded downCutoffs curved in Sin-Dee’s criss-crossedlean in rapid buckled steps of bent knees.Midriff leopard tied above waist, flipsbrassy blonde of her wig. Alexandra holdsno cigarettes, but clear high notes, streakof a tear, a pouch of skin that she refused.
2.Alexandra smoothes hair under jaw,coupled with eyebrow arches slickas brown leather jacket, a camelcolored purse strap on her shoulder.Sleek, Alexandra avoids fights, findsrelease from trade in a car wash.Foam plumes curl on the windshield.
3.Urine flies in Sin-Dee’s faceon Hollywood’s ChristmasEve, as she solicits the next,and silence becomes a tightjacket over her shoulders.
Alexandra still comes backpulls Sin-Dee into a 24-hourlaundromat, yanks the piss-slickclothes away to wipeSin-Dee clean, another passat innocence known by nightwomen, denied permitsfor shame and dignity.
Alexandra unpins the haloof polished black from roundedstocking cap, and fits the wigSin-Dee’s naked nylon-nettedhead. Neither one speaks.No one says prostitutes,and men who know strolls,do exactly what sisters do. [End Page 55]
Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit and Arc & Hue. She is also one of the coeditors of The Beiging of America: Personal Narratives about Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Essence, Callaloo, and Obsidian, as well as in numerous anthologies.
