Hey, all you lovely friends (grins) who would like a free copy of Salt Daughter when it comes out in exchange for writing a blurb/review for the back of the book? My publisher asked me to do this -- we need about 3 reviews to select from. If you want to do one, I'll send you a PDF file of the manuscript to read.

Should I include tasty mints to add incentive?

Soothing the New Mothers
.
I come door to door
my hair shellacked into blonde wings
selling life insurance and
.
they return to their lazee-boys, their rocking
chairs, their blue barco-loungers and sigh
.
their eyes are huge, all pupil, but they see
nothing, their hair a shock of smoke
floating in all directions
.
their dresses stained,
their bellies puffed, straining against
zippers, buttons
.
they bleed, still, through their pantyhose
and the line of red trickles down into their
sneakers
.
they each wear a butter white cloth
over their right shoulders, for the burping, the tiny
pukes, the endless streams of drool,
the fabric has a peculiar scent,
like urine and dirt and something
spoiling
.
they haven't slept in weeks, they have the expression
of cows after the first shock of a hammer
to the forehead, before the light completely
leaves the brain
.
I offer them a pocketfull of chocolate, then flash
my shiny red high heels, speak of bars tangy with smoke,
low riding jeans, tattoos to the lower back
.
and men, lots of men, lining up, crowding the floor
to speak to them, the young mothers, men of every shape
and color, all of them beautiful and yearning
.
the mothers are lonely, I know this, and when
they start to weep with longing I am ready
I gather a handful of their pliable fingers
and lift them from their chairs
.
wipe their tears and drool
and I close the door, close it softly
behind us, so as not to wake
the baby

Even This Dress Hurts Now

god awfully sore you didn't have to do that to me you know
whatever you asked
I would have done even this dress hurts now last chance

you didn't have to do that to me you know whatever you asked
I would have done
even this dress hurts now candace's mouth was obviously going in all the

god awfully sore you didn't have to
do that to me you know whatever you asked I would have done even
this dress hurts now I know what you mean

even this dress hurts now you sure you don't want me to take
these off as well christi whispered kneeling
up and touching her own jeans

you didn't have to do that to me
you know whatever you asked I would have done
even this dress hurts now how are the arms a little better you

you didn't have to do that to me you
know whatever you asked I would have done even
this dress hurts now I bet it would hurt
if you whacked those now

you didn't have to do that to me you know whatever you asked I would have done
even this dress hurts now press squat down and straddle our faces

you didn't
have to do that to me
you know whatever you asked I would have done
even this dress hurts now anal ring to clamp tightly on the base

you didn't have to do that
to me you know whatever you
asked I would have done even this dress hurts now I fell
to my knees placed my hands on top of

whatever
you asked I
would have done even this dress hurts now please don't
do that to me for the love of jesus I'll do anything
you say

I've been very depressed about the flooding, loss of life, governmental indifference, etc. My coworkers and I started crying today when we discussed in the office. So I wrote a poem. You don't have to comment. I'm just feeling apocalyptic.

Looting

Just give it up, everyone tells me:
But why should I, why does any thing matter still
with everything gone already, everything covered
by this great dark river full of floating things
I don't want to see.
.
You have a gun?
I have a gun.
.
Some things are still there
in the Walmart on the hill;
Ipods, plasma TV's and more
guns.
.
The bread in its plastic
bag is sodden and black.
All of my kitchen and half
the living room have disappeared
as if a teacher's great hand
came down and erased them.
.
The woman in the apartment next door
left three days ago. She taped a sheet
of notebook paper to her door
with a message, now blurred
into splotches shaped into children's handprints.
.
I live alone here
or I do since my husband left
to buy toothpaste on Wednesday.
.
I have always wanted
a ring with a diamond, large,
round and flat, shaped like an eye. I have always
wanted a yellow car, and now that
.
the time has come, now that the river is on fire
and the houses are gone,
why shouldn't I have it?
.
Why can't I have just one thing?

_____________

Here is the blog of someone in the middle of it:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/