dancer

when she was a child
she used to dream
about wearing
beautiful clothes
and playing dress up

now
she is
the lead dancer
at a strip club

funny
how life
treats you

. . .

in the dressing room
they waited
for the DJ
to cue
their music

three dances

fully dressed

start to peel

totally naked

if you could forget
about the horny bastards
thrusting dollars at you
it wasn’t
a bad way
to make
a living

. . .

her family
belonged
to the purity cult
and they instilled
in her
a belief
that she
was to save
herself
for marriage
and not
to throw away
her precious gift
of virginity

believing this

once she started

she never
looked back

. . .

the first time
she took her clothes off
for anyone
other than
her doctor
she was sure
she made
a mistake

decades later
on her death bed
she remembered
undressing
and smiled

© Buzz Dixon