the meat market

in the meat market he stalks---

a lean predator

without restraint

without any moral code

without any need but to

satisfy the urge inside

which is harder to do,

the easier it gets---

while she,

like the rest,

swing to & fro

neath’ the strobes & the neon,

with disco ball in check,

filled to the brim with E & Patrón,

stuffed inside

the squeezing, shimmery, slinky &

slicked down packaging---

she’s come for one reason &

she will not sugar coat the fact that

unless she has extinguished this fire burning inside her by morning,

the oxyhydrogenic essence within

will most certainly combust,

exploding & destroying her---

so solutions are downed in the hatch

which dull the reason, logic & accountability

for at least long enough to engage in the act of

tearing each other to shreds

like the animal kingdom commands

like the concrete jungle wills &

the 21^st century dictates.