PERRIER-JOUET

with painted faces
we bare our cheeks
and swing our hips
as the men dispense dollars
and suck down their beer
feeling good about themselves
 sharing a bond
of complicity

(tip the dj extra so
when you're giving
a lap dance
he'll play 6 songs
in a row.)

in the champagne room
two flutes from
a bottle of perrier-jouet
and we stroke their egos
til they feel like a million bucks...

it's two a.m.
they walk to their cars
with a smile on their faces
glitter on their shirts
and a hole in their wallet.

she's working
this tuesday.

                   

Reviews

[Leigh]

Nice writing that really paints the picture well, so much so that I can imagine myself in a smoke filled club surrounded by drunken loosers letching over young girls, who go flitting from man to man. This piece really drives home the point about the divide between men and women and how both sexes are exploited. I like the last two lines especially.

[Brandon]

I agree with the previous comment about the old Bogart flicks; the Sam Spade narrative, jaded and quick. I thought that added a certain accent to the stanzas that made them bite a little sharper; somehow emphasizing the content instead of smothering it. Glitter grins dotted with financial and psychological cavities; poor humanity. Silly humanity. And sadly, no one really ends up getting very far past the parking lot. The money stays; the smiles stay behind and the only thing that goes home is the damage. All in all, a brilliant write!

[Bare trees]

I can remember sitting in a go go bar one night and watching men throw their money at the girls who were taking it all off for them. I just didn't get it. Men can certainly be gullible and idiotic when it comes to woman. I'm sure this poem is a fact in many, many places--Sadly.

[Ed Hart]

years ago a guy asked me to go with him...i went...i didn't get it...he didn't ask me again...oh well...but you spelled it out pretty good for him

[James Paulin]

An intriguing insight into the perspective of an entertainer who knows what the story is about for most of the patrons. I think there is more sadness and danger yet to be written when you are ready. This piece is almost narrative but subtly poignant. I enjoyed it from several perspectives.

[khalid]

i really wish, that once, i read one of your poems and i get it from the first time without needing to use a dictionary. very nice poem for great poet.

[Pax Analog]

Pro sex tease lucidity. Dispassionate, like a photo-doc. Stark contrast between gyro-thrill and anthropologist scrutiny.

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

A cleared total of melted angst, a very well written piece, well done, good read.

[Igor G. Balatsky]

this world is the funniest place i have ever been to. as well as the
saddest one, though... a terrific free verse in its old good traditions.