Soft Money - Rae Armantrout

They're sexy
because they're needy,
which degrades them.

They're sexy because
they don't need you.

They're sexy because they pretend
not to need you,

but they're lying,
which degrades them.

They're beneath you
and it's hot.

They're across the border,
rhymes with dancer -

they don't need
to understand.

They're content to be
(not mean),

which degrades them
and is sweet.

They want to be
the thing-in-itself

and the thing-for-you-

Miss Thing - but can't.

They want to be you,
but can't,

which is so hot.

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Rae Armantrout (b.1947) won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry yesterday for her book Versed. You can read about her and see some of her other work here.