Just A Body

She shivers on the bed

But he couldn’t care less.

No point in putting on more clothes

When they’re coming right off.

No crawling under warm blankets

When he paid to see her, all of her,

A fourteen-year-old girl.

The sixth man today,

Each one stealing a piece of her.

He smells like the rest of them,

Like sweat and stale cigars.

The odor now lingered in the room,

Even when they were gone.

She stares at the ceiling

While he has his way with her.

Counts the water-stained tiles,

The cracks in the walls,

The holes in the blanket.

She’s watched this room fall apart over time

But it’s the only one she’ll use,

The only choice she’s allowed to make.

She wanted high school, prom, football games,

A real job to make money of her own.

But she makes money for her new daddy

With a body that’s no longer her own.