City women, ladies, girls
living in the chrome and steel centres of the world:
Renting, running, working at it -
starting afresh or sick of this ****.
Elevator doors parting to set them free,
traffic keeping them from where they have to be -
bar counter high chairs to sit and assess,
boardrooms in which to draw from the war chests.
Night bus home with headphones in,
pacing the glare of streetlights, unsure he's following.
Sunday park strolls, arms linked - laughs broad,
Saturday dining - Sangrias, Charcuterie boards.
Late night Skype conversations, with distant friends -
other, far city girls - who make time as and when.
Shot glasses, smoke plumes, white lines in a stall -
sometimes alternating or simply doesn't feel a need at all.
Casual sex, protest rallies, nights in -
raking through bags because their keys are missing.
Salon chairs and grocery shops
lying in bed just...feeling lost.
Witnessing crime, re-wording emails
booking flights, entering bank details.
Making their fortune,
****ing it up,
demanding better
and not paid enough.
City women, ladies, girls,
living in the chrome and steel centres of the world.

© Yafeu-Khamisi Rodway-Brown