Diana Darby ** "I V" ** Intravenous

Damn Leaves

I’m tired of all this fighting.
Drain women acting like Sarah Palin.
People accusing foul
mold
and water.
The stench of buyers and realtors.
Perfume.
Failing French systems
and the leaves,
all the damn leaves.
There is nothing here I want to cling to.
Nothing I want to call my own.
October came and left without a poem.
Just psoriasis.
Now it is November
and I have met more Southern men
than I ever cared to.
What’s another $5,000
if it means my freedom?
A whore is a whore
right?
One just spreads her legs
and the other drops her price.
I think about that
when I am propositioned in this market.
We have been taught to believe
the next man,
woman,
lover,
baby,
dinner,
will be better than the last.
So we pack and move
and fly
and run
and think
the answer is somewhere else.
Sure,
I want to leave as much as the next person,
I just want to be sure
I’m taking my integrity with me.