The Vacancy Was In Her Soul

 

                                 Trina didn't think of herself as a working girl

                   A working woman

                   Not a girl

                   What she did was real work

Every morning she dutifully cleansed herself

Scrubbing away the night's indiscretions

                                          With soap

                                                         And a scouring pad

                                          She looked in the mirror

                                                         Intensely

                                          And honestly told herself

                                          That today was the day 

                                          The last day

That she would ever sell herself

To buy what it took to make her life bearable

                                           And every night

                                           She found herself

                                           In the middle of negotiations

                                                         With strangers 

                                           Wanting to purchase

                                                         Intimacy 

                                           For a half hour

                                                         Or less

                         Because the thought of being without

                                  What made her life bearable

                                       Was unbearable