Two-damned lovers 

[Spooks is what haunts you. Illiterate is what defines you. 

But dance ahead, you twisted two]

In a trailer park, lives two. One

man. One woman. They dance

to the song, I’m Not The Only One 

in their bug-infested, rotten eggs staining the walls.

As the song reaches the chorus, the woman thinks of the husband

back at home, broken because of his failed farm. 

He paints her cheeks and eyes with black and blue.

Their kids touched by flames turned 

ashes scattered 

in the den. She won’t clean it up. The woman’s eyes 

met his focused       face         gazing into the distance. The man thinks 

of Iris, pregnant. 

The man dances. Twirls grips 

the woman’s waist. Leaves no space between them. While Iris 

lays in a queen bed repeating the word “Consuelo” el nombre. 

The woman grabs his chin and leans in 

for a wet kiss. Sex 

is the woman’s superpower. Her 

eyes and body movements take hold of the man’s body. 

The man knows what’s happening and can’t do anything 

to stop it but doesn’t want to. 

By the end of the song, they’ve forgotten the other 

lives they live.