silverscreen

[deleted]

your words are filled with hesitation, great fit for this poem. The maybes communicate so much withdrawal, indifference.

I have to say, this is one of the first 'strip poems' I've enjoyed reading! It saddens me that I didn't get to read this sooner. It's definitely an interesting premise and I can really feel a sense of disenchantment from this person. Maybe they were excited to one day experience this really special thing, but then it became a job to "pay next month's rent" and they (she?) became disillusioned by sex all together as a result.

I find too often that negative talk of pornography and all either comes from religious fanatics or just parents who only see sex workers as immoral people. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places but your poem is a rare, for me, contemplative look at the struggles of a person who is a pornstar.

For me, this line

"we do everything but kiss"

was the most impactful. I think for a lot of people who aren't comfortable with intimacy, kissing is such as huge step to take because you have to literally face your partner and be very vulnerable in the moment. With other acts, I feel that intimacy is lost somewhat because sex can be so primal that it loses sentimentality or vulnerability. I know I'm rambling a lot here, but this line hit me. They'll do anything but actually develop a relationship with one another which, at the end of the day, is one of the most important things in our lives; meaningful relationships.

Anyway, overall, a really great poem. I could feel the struggle of the character and they really felt like an actual person with problems I can imagine a pornstar or the like suffering with. You really gave another perspective of it too that I think more conservative parents may struggle to understand; sometimes people get stuck in dehumanizing work because its all they can, or all they think they can do. It's much deeper than "I'm a pornstart because I'm a bad, immoral, dirty person".

Great poem!