Mercy

lips in chapped neon tangerine
snagged red fishnet stockings
nipples glittering gold

he pays a girl to dance like love

grips his bourbon and seven
as if it is the combination lock
to the portal
of the past
and he could
unwreck
his unrecognizable self

the hungry dog dances
at the clink of its bowl being filled
let’s call that love too
a creature with no options
like the fishnet girl
who sometimes gives away sex for free
because it feels like love

she goes unbitten
it would be cruel to render
such a life immortal
sometimes even a vampire
finds a molecule of mercy