The Selling Price

To the casting couch, the Hollywood director told you to go.
To the role proposed that made you a star, why didn't you JUST SAY NO?

To the couch you went with open eyes, why? This is my guess.
You were afraid the very next applicant would enthusiastically say yes.

You say you had non-consensual sex and the relationship lasted for years.

You face the world now, calling out his name, crying a bowl filled with tears.

Tell us then, what did you receive for the sexual exchange?

Was the position, promotion, pay increase...sufficient for ruining your name?

This man of power wanted you hour upon hour, but he did not treat you nice.

What is the difference between you and the whore on the street, except the selling price.

Why go to a man's room, married or not, in the dark of the night?

As they reared you, did mom and dad not teach you wrong from right?

You cohabit with a man of wealth, although he has a wife.

What is the difference between you and the whore on the street, except the selling price?

You marry for money, clothes, furs, jewels-the things they call ice.

What is the difference between you and the whore on the street, except the selling price?

What of immature girls, kidnapped by soldiers and taken from their schools?

They were forced to have sex and marry these men against all moral rules.

Revile men who abduct women and these same they do rape,

locking them away and ensuring for them no means of escape.

Taking advantage of innocence, of ones unaware, and using rape as a weapon of war;

assaulting they went with criminal intent, these acts we do abhor.

So when, upon a man's name, you improperly throw dirt and grime,

you wound again the true victims of these horrendous crimes.

The monies and gifts dry up. And from the high position you fall.

Your talents no longer fit the job. You have no complaints at all.

Both are criminals; you are his whore and he is your john.

Why should he be the only one, by public accusation, to come to harm?

Johns go free. Police arrest whores on the street and to the station they are bound.

Affluence exonerates the whores but take care. What goes around comes around.

The men meekly concede to the  whore's needs. What a surprise!

In any other case, they would face the accusations as a pack of lies.

Listen! To me, it is all the same. You both should be ashamed.

But why should the john take all the blame and allow the whore to ruin his name?

Once you could tell a whore by the dress she wore. This is no longer true.

The top exposes the breasts, a slit in the skirt, the rest. "Don't touch," this virgin says to you.

The summer top and short she wears will make you all but stare.

So scanty, so spare that you will think her body practically bare.

Still she is not ashamed.

Her favorite singer wears the same.

She forgets, if she has ever claimed,

the honor of her family's name.

She could be clothed from neck to heel

but a glance you need not steal.

It is the big reveal.

Every curve and every roll,

her physical virtues are extolled.

She says, "Look but do not touch me."

Her future is set; her death not yet, but by the throw of a dice.

The only difference between her and a rising starlet is the selling price.

From the upcoming book entitled Earth Sounds