The Ten Most Beautiful Women in the World

Flying junk, clouds thrown from the tops
of buildings, where we find ourselves

lost between uncomfortable bars, the moon clearing
a patch beneath our skin, a longing

or long arcade where we search our pockets
to find a coin small enough for a rusted slot-

machine, a converted pinball or one-
armed bandit. We have not seen our mother

in eleven months, but have lately found
The Ten Most Beautiful Women in the World

in 3D. A shutter twitches, and night outside
becomes night inside their hotel or

page 90

emporium. A coin drops into the upholstered
darkness. The machine's two eyes

staring into our two eyes. Then, faded
into her background, (1) a woman

in a vast bikini, c. 1950, only the pink material
remaining, brighter than ever,

hovering, almost, in space. (2) following: a lime-
green outfit, the colour touched

by hand. A fizzing bulb has faded (4), (5) and (7)
completely. (6) has melted down. Only the

artificial colours remain, these costumes like
flags of modesty. (10) dissolves into milk,

then a shutter snaps. And it is night again
inside The Ten Most Beautiful Women in the World.