Sex and Murder Magazine

By M.P. Powers

do you see that beautiful girl trapped in the window?
I wonder if she likes what she's doing. I wonder if she
-----likes the action, or was she somehow
coerced? was she kidnapped
and brought here to work? night after night,
opening the door and closing the curtains. servicing
-----the flow of human detritus, letting
any stinking thing
-----with a pulse and fifty euros
have at her. I wonder if she chose this. and I wonder
-----where her husband is - that young professional.
the naive ambitious american with the soft
-----hands and tender eyes.
the one she'll meet online in four or five years,
-----and marry in some opulent oceanfront ceremony.
-----the one who will never know
a thing about her nights in amsterdam, or the truth
-----she found here.