A NIGHT IN DEVIL STREET

Sexuality, minority rights and economic hardships.

It’s late afternoon on a weekday of summer 

     1999 along the so-called Devil Street:

By dusk all the shops along this street 

     shall put up the shutters

     whilst the darkness-filled corridors with drones 

     shall swarm; queuing up for the makeshift hives. 

Peddlers in mini-wings at the doorways shall gesture

     and so, some hive-goers shall get lured

Halfway down the unlit boulevard, the street’s 

     grandest honeycomb shall spring to life

     whose insides the darkness shall fill

     and a reek of dirt and pollen linger. 

By mid-night those trees’ feet with used latex and 

     smoker’s butts shall get littered, 

     as if were infested with the apiarist's casualties

     that's a night in Devil Street 

In those apertures all the transoms 

     shall get boarded-up 

     and dim candle lights a hospital-like glow give

     another load shedding!  

A dozen gal-bees on those dirty benches 

     shall get seated

     whilst some solicitors nearby shall stand, 

     ogling them. 

An average rate of two and a half dollars 

     shall be levied;

     but the gals will be lucky if a fifth of the fee 

     they shall see 

     many in lifelong debt to the landlords and pimps 

     shall get trapped 

The hard truth of life in Devil Street 

     so hard!

A night in Devil Street.