Like a flock of dispossessed
in a city of converts, we found our way
to the Shamrock where the bikers
congregated to play pool.
To give of our body & to touch another’s body
felt like a religious act, like an act
of loyalty & trust, not necessarily
lust, but lust of the dispossessed,
lust of the insatiable,
of the lonely, lust of the powerful
& privileged, lust of harm, of longing,
lust that desecrates the soul
& the body, terrible & never-ending,
lust that one sees in the eyes
of another,
lust of the violent,
lust of the dominant,
of the depraved,
lust that sees a body
as simply a vessel
for one’s lust.