Hollow-eyed, the dumb downed whore
explains herself into the street.
Fake pearls a string of curses.
Mini-skirt brick wall tight.
She pretends to be on heat.

Broken backs ignore the urgency
dulcet shuffle past a skip.
Parks their safety valves.
Secret chores a roadmap home.
Pension card in plastic slip.

Delicious female cops, Matisse wrapped, blue on blue.
A drinker mimes "Handcuff me".
They ignore the local quips.
Implements of torture
girdle trousered hips.

Shopkeepers smile in Arabic
with paper napkin teeth.
Shortchange in translation.
Diabetic, ancient mannered.
Sweat veneered and oily sweet.

Junction playboy stops the traffic.
Custard tart in careless hand.
Morning is still midnight.
Plastic tidal sways
across his Rio Grande.

Fast hotels and gutted needles.
Islanders on ice.
Charity is vomited.
The future sometimes, maybe.
Shaven heads avoid head lice.

Fastforward! Watchword motto of the inflamed carousel.
On and off for forty years.
I'm a graduate of hell.
Fashionista, paranoic, twisted by the night.
Bicycle bohemian, falling into light.

Note on Australian idiom
skip:industrial waste container
Islanders:immigrants from South Sea islands.
ice: smoked methamphetamine.