local_library Lament of the Compulsive Voyeur

by Jason Matthews

Published in Issue No. 190 ~ March, 2013

Every woman I know

is naked on the Internet.

 

Every

single

one.

 

They breathe, “H-T-T-P:

colon,

back

/slash-back\

slash.”

 

I can’t

not

look.

 

A photographer

holds out his card;

soon, we shall see

whether the claims adjuster

upstairs

shaves

downstairs.

 

I’ve seen my boss’s stretchmarks, the

waitress’s c-section, and my

third-grade teacher’s mastectomy.

 

Interplanetary Janet stalks the boulevard

all day, screaming,

“You’re all MURDERERS!”, and

“Fig Newtons are for COMMUNISTS!”, and

I know every dent

in her hood.

 

My sister posts

thumbnail portraits;

magnified, her nipples are

hairy thumbprints.

My mother haunts the dim, hot, greasy

flesh-dot-com underbelly,

feared by many,

upvoted by more.

Grandma sends a FW: FW: FW:

 

I must

not

*click*

account_box More About

Jason Matthews' work has appeared in VESTAL REVIEW, STAR*LINE, IN PARENTHESES, and FROM THE DEPTHS, and is due to appear in the upcoming CIPHER SISTER anthology from ThunderDome Press. He lives in Los Angeles.