RIVALS

by: Archie Austin Coates

      LONG the Avenue of an afternoon,
      Lithe, slim youths
      Sauntering ...
      Sleek of hair, and trim, and narrow of hip,
      With white, soft necks and ties puffed out,
      Beneath faces artfully made just a bit too beautiful
      And not quite manly.
      They stroll slowly,
      Shooting side-glances into passing faces,
      Meaningly.
       
      At the corner
      A painted woman
      Shambles into a doorway ...
      Her lips are of dry flame,
      And in her eyes are flames of hatred,
      Hatred and scorn, bitter and inexpressible,
      For these slim youths,
      Her rivals.

"Rivals" is reprinted from Poetica Erotica. New York: Crown Publishers, 1921.

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