Skin

The neon bruise on her cheek flickers on/off/on in the rain.
On her thigh there is a tattooed smear.
She finds a vein in her ankle.
Pull back.
Under a tangle of freeway passes, a squat, squalid city.
Derelict buildings huddled together for warmth, windows burn with cool blue TV fire.
They all sell something down here.
Sex, drugs, religion.
They'll buy escape at any price.

She squats in a peeling doorway, something childlike and explicit in the splay of her legs.
From her tiny purse she takes a cigarette and rolls it between her fingers.

Buildings grow like weeds between drifts of broken stereos and refrigerator boxes.

He steps towards her and offers a light.
The gesture is familiar and as she stands, a coy smile twists her face, the cigarette casually held to hide her broken tooth.
As they talk she smooths the pleated vinyl of her skirt.
He draws her back into the doorway, out of the rain.

The only moon over the city tonight is the crescent of bleached teeth on a billboard advertising salvation, at a high price.

He steps towards her but doesn't offer a light.
When he spits at her feet she recoils, as if it has landed on her cheek.
As he waves his fist she notices the stains on his teeth.
She thinks they must have been retouched for the billboard.
His teeth are the colour of derelict, rotten buildings.
She says "At least I admit what I am".
He spits again and walks away.