the heyday

burlesque was bound
to die

when the store down
the street

showed x rated films
for a quarter

there for a few
brief seconds

you could see
the whole thing

burlesque was bound
to die

when down the street
there was this place

where you walked up
to the second floor

and found yourself
in a room where you

could talk dirty to
the woman on the other
side of the booth
for a price

or when the turntable
went round and round

with naked women
reclining in all kinds
of positions

burlesque died a
gasping death

when the floodgates
opened

and civil liberty
took a different turn.

Poem taken from Burlesque by Ed Galing, edited by Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books, 2004