For sixteen years or more
She said she’d slept only
With black men either African
Or Caribbean she’d picked up
In the reggae & zouk bars
In Creque Alley during her time
In San Francisco doing phone
Solicitation by day & sex trade
By night her blond hair by then
In exquisite cornrows down to
The middle of her back &
To break the cycle she admitted
Was killing her decided to
Marry one for the money & so
The green card he required
& another after he’d chained her
To the bed & kept her for weeks
Before she’d agreed & no
She didn’t know where either of
Her husbands might be though
She now lived spitting distance
Of Point Lobos where one day
She’d stood far out on the rocks
As the tide came in & called me
On her cell saying listen to the surf
In which I am about to die
& I said No you’re far too sick to die
& then she laughed & said please
Don’t ever write about my illness
Which I despise though say
Anything you want about my father
Fucking me again & again
But please nothing of the way the virus
Has melted my body to bone
Then your horrible friends will know
All my life before you & diagnosis
I will claim again now as my own