She speaks in differential equations
along the border
of the tropic of cancer
as the heat from
inside her melts away
her Logic
and fortified
formulas.
Once established
and favored for their accuracy
are now,
failing completely.

The maddening heat
it enraptures her
mind
and rises to the occasion,
searing names into her thigh
trading in books and eye glasses
for garters & panty hose.
Upgrading the market value
of her body
& giving up the path
of educational
enlightenment.

Four score and seven years ago
she wasn’t quite the whore,
not quite.
It was a slow jaunt to
the garden
sinking smoothly
along the path
of once perfected cobblestone,
to grandmother’s house.
until of course, she lost
her way to the garden
and wandered into the forbidden
forest of the South
where she found a lone
Magnolia
and couldn’t help
fingering the edges
–just a little.