Jake Aull

Ladies in Black Dresses

Ladies in black dresses,
like cats,
slink
in and out
open doorways
over-
crowded halls

hair lilts like
those perfect
smoke curls
climbing from
rose-painted
lips

and the cigarettes rest
in delicate
sweet fingers
that rap-a-tap
against
their cat-like
hips

to the rhythm of
a black shade
blues man
with a mic
giant
clinks against
his teeth

and the men
coupled with
brown bottles,
now rocking in
their seats
ignore the Memphis sound
and make cat-calls
to the ladies
stacked
in black

who pretend
to ignore
everything
but

the beat

Jake Aull has called many different parts of the country home in his relatively short life. He currently lives in Atlanta, GA, where he finds ladies both his greatest writing inspiration and most baffling mystery. lives and works in Atlanta.