Julio, her pimp,
smiled like a cliché,
glint of light off grimy gold;
this is why she laughed
as she breezed passed,
(her john in tentative tow)
not for the money that he counted,
but for this movie scene
of her life.
Her mind closed with the door,
this rough-trade whore
wholly aware of the pain
her smallish frame
was about to endure.
Playful at first,
hands around her neck,
both acting the part,
the slaps and brutal grip
fleshing out the characters.
She tastes of the actress's blood.
Deep inside, from her hiding place,
she imagines her little sister's face
aglow in gratitude
for this semester's tuition,
lying about the source,
about the course of circumstance,
hoping this lack of knowledge
will purify this pain.
By the time the choking
becomes real,
only God can hear her scream,
and sits with her
and her little sister
giggling at the picture
hanging in their room,
the funny horse
her father swore
he could not see.