The Abandoned Woman

by Midnight Moon
Wild Poetry Forum
Second Place, December 2017
Judged by Michael Larrain


Trash strewn railroad yard, there she is,
sitting, grabbing crack-skinny knees

Near a brick wall blackened by
graffiti or soot
turning gold in the dusk

Dark hair curly, not grey,
probably under 40,

Already so rickety.
Eyes watch somebody more normal
with a dog

Such skinny eyes.
Where was this railroad woman last night?
So cold, last night.

Man scuffs along, tall and big
nobody looks. Skinny after being used for sex
then lying there limbs akimbo

It smells here
the dog carefully lifts its feet
Eagerly sniffing the ecstatic rails

Not getting close to the abandoned woman
with perfume stronger than God’s, thinks the dog.

But still, better to keep away
just in case.