I too like the nightlife baby     the sun downing over

the curvature of my day    as twilight spreads outward

into rooms where   makeup is laid out like ritual

tools in a tomb     this is an afterlife

from job & family   the constant gaze of people

who clutch throats   or their children when I pass

three kinds of black    eyeliner before me

kohl, liquid, pancake    three mascaras colored jet

amber oil in glass    blended into last night’s smoke

I spend an hour       on my asymmetrical eyes

when I was a weak infant   my mother fastened

a 24-karat gold      safety pin bearing an eye

charm to my breast   for protection dusk to dawn

it was almost prophecy   this leaving of home

to kick & flail     into the fabric of the night

---

*this poem shares a title with a song by The Cars