Donor Cozeners
by Odin Roark

Seduction eased into town long ago,
Thought to be natural.
It was
Praised as stability,
It was
Embraced as destiny,
It was…

Procreation ruled the nights,
Delivery rooms the days,
Time passed and like flies to a sugar fix,
Victory swarmed
Bank tellers on payday,
Local bars on Friday night,
Churches on Sunday.

Workweek habits continued,
Sexual harassment ‘round the water cooler,
Ass kissing ‘round the bosses,
Entitlement ‘round the calling-in-sick phone.

Then something happened.

Times got rough,
Unemployment rose,
Businesses shut down,
Preachers sought donations elsewhere,
Enticement stumbled out of town.

Darkness lured memories of enticements,
Cob webs hung furtively,
Tying unlit lamp post to shattered neon signs,
Side streets to alleyways,
Locked doors to broken windows.

Summer storms passed over,
Leaving muddy puddles,
Their rippled reflections
But gurgling echoes to the moon.
Goodbye waves of regret.

Today…

Not far down the road,
A new infestation of passionless hunters
Perfect their duplicitous smiles,
Awaiting yet another bounty of ignorance
For buying into the inducement
Of both flight
And fright,
Believing this,
Believing that,
Unaware that allurement
Is barbed with many disguises.

Hopefully…

Conscience will remain conscious
Never forgetting that on a clear night,
Or a dew covered sunrise,
Deception’s abalone color
Will flicker from the incandescence of
Beguilement’s lure,
Turning tomorrow’s entrapment of dreams,
Like the broken wings of flies,
Fractured rainbows are sucked
Into the black hole of deceit.