yes, I am. . .although i don't post often (or rather rarely. . .), I still visit here. aaaaaaanyways, here is a poem I am working on.

NOTE: I don't know how to italicize stuff, so, I put the italics stuff in quotes.
---

Anymore

She waltzes to the bar,
sure of herself,
strong, independant,
but only on the top,
her titillating surface,
the mask that covers
her thoughts,
her fears,
her deepest dreams.
The only thing that she can't hide
is her eyes, those betraying blues.
They reveal her tiredness,
grieving what her life has become:
"hanging around these pudgy
middle-aged rejects
who drown themselves in booze
in a room
in an acrid soup
of cigarette smoke."

And as she feels the arm slung around her shoulders
(covered in cheap faux fur)
her skin crawls
at the clamminess
of his hands,
at the cheap liquor
on his breath

But she doesn't resist.
"In this biz,
you better deal with
the smell
the sweat
the smirk
or it's the gutter for you."

Choice flew out the window
5 years ago.
But wild dreams of success
as a doctor
as a lawyer
"as anything other than this"
survive
and well up in her
even now
in this very bar room
"where I offer the only product
that will never lack demand."

"One day
the leers
will stop
and I
will be
the one
on top."

What she wouldn't give
to not have to give it
anymore.

"to not have to give in
anymore."

"Tomorrow maybe. . ."

But tomorrow is always a day away. . .