Still pretending
to be a guest
in her own city, she reads a tourist
brochure pretending
it is a magazine. 

She squints to see
how out of focus
home can become. An entire page
devoted to gentlemen’s clubs. 

She doesn’t work it
so much less so each year
as she passes from eligible, young desirable
to this: a visitor
wise enough to know 

when to refocus, when
what fades is what goes
on display, passing through
on out. Every town’s got to have a place
to see naked girls 

going out of focus
in the dark.  Still, she imagines living
in a hotel, turns the page, what else
have you got, city?