venal \VEE-nuhl\, adjective: 1. Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration; held for sale; salable; purchasable. 2. Capable of being corrupted. 3. Marked by or associated with bribery and corrupt dealings.
gumshoe (GUM-shoo) noun 1. A detective. 2. A rubber overshoe. [The word is an allusion to the quiet snooping that a detective is supposed to do. Wearing rubber shoes, one can move around without making much noise.]
The first thing you must remember:
it is very easy to purchase me.
For the cost of a berry dipped in chocolate,
your silent secrets are frigidly undressed.
For the symbolic twirl of a finger against my check,
the flush of heat from lips unjoined:
your very soul I could crucify,
parted like a frog with pins and thread.
Secondly, lying next to the caucus of your sleep,
I infect each breath: in-take-in-take.
You who have purchased me, who have wrapped
love up in words like fuck, gentle, and oh-oh-oh:
You, who creep into second moments, the sullen
dinner dimness alone and a shudder of my shoulders:
You have been marked by me, have been branded,
labeled, categorized, tainted and stamped.
Finally, infected with me, you inevitably become
The venal disparity of dawn's harsh detective.
