The Loved Ones
Juanita del Pablo
'Luscious, languid and lustful'?
Rather was - 'surly, lustrous and sadistic'.
Poor Leo bought her for her eyes,
Splendid eyes
And a fine head of black hair,
So Leo made her Spanish.
Flamenco singing,
I made her an anti-fascist refugee.
Franco's Moors.
Her... was never photogenique
We... used an understudy for the lower half.
Poor Juanita has to start at the beginning again,
As an Irish colleen.
They've bleached her hair,
Vermillion,
They've pulled all her teeth out.
Aimee Thanatogenos
She entered the room,
Wore the white livery of her calling,
Hair was dark, straight,
Brows wide,
Skin transparent and untarnished by the sun.
When the girl spoke it was
Briskly and prosaically:
"Was the face much disfigured?
It is a question of touch,
You see,
Massaging the blood from the congested areas".
Her lips were artificially tinctured, no doubt.
They seemed to promise
Unmeasured sensual converse:
"Death and Art,
This is my true home".
