Matter of style

It was a matter of style, chic
if you will, and please, pronounce
it right - its ‘sheek’ not ‘shick’.

The first girl wore a tattoo tastefully
emblazoned on her shoulder, it might
have been her lover’s name entwined
with a flowering scroll, but she filled
her skin-tight dress to capacity.

The second wore the type of iridescent
and patently spray-painted garb that
dries a watcher’s eyes – tattooed
perhaps but only in an afterthought.

There was a noticeable roll of puppy fat sizzling
on the hot coals of the first shoulder-inscribed dish
who spooned past the stall, but we all liked the tattoo.

When number two wafted by there was stunned silence.
We were amazed she had been allowed entry to the
market without an armed guard, an escort, a bells and
whistles retinue. Until we read the tattoo.

It said,

Abandon
hope
all
ye

w
h
o
\\//
V
© I.D. Carswell