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Poetry: Setting goals

by Erin Able

Sex and Stoli

They wear:
business suits, bathing suits,
Manolo Blahniks,
Old Navy, and .

The struggling writers and wanna-be actresses
trudge down the streets, avoiding scowls projected
in their direction. They don't want anyone to
get in their way on the street or life.

The corporate towers bark,
"Sorry, you need more experience,"
as they obscure the sun, their aspirations.

Day bustles with
interviews and unlikely hopes
"Today I will write for Glamour..." or Vogue, or Cosmo.

Nighttime crowds the local bars,
despondently searching for their dreams
at the bottom of an entire bottle of Stoli.

They search in the medicine cabinet
of the stranger they just slept with
a few Codine will make this easier.

Sun rises,
they slink out of the snoring bed,
into last night's clothes and head back home

to the promising blink of the answering machine.

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA