Scam artist ~
preyed on teenage girls.
Sarah was smitten.
Invited to the party,
good and plenty ripe
with handsome bachelors
all waiting to score.
Twenty years her junior,
mints in his pocket
to wash away whiskey breath,
he sidled up to her.
Join me outside?
I’m not into alcohol
not into these wild parties.
She believed him.
Chatted gamely as they left.
Went to his penthouse hotel room.
Next day, found by the maid.
Strangled, disheveled, damaged.
But he was long gone.
On the kitchenette counter,
unopened Oreos package, glass of milk,
Duds and Suds business card
propped up by the toaster.
Handwritten message on the card:
I like ‘em young. Listen to their dreams.
All of ‘em wanna be sugar babies,
I just make it happen.
Catch me if you can.
Love to all,
Mr. Goodbar
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today I’m hosting and listing 27 candy bars/candies and asking folks to include at least one in their poem. If the candy includes the word “bar/bars”, those words can be eliminated…but the candy name must be used exactly as it is. No words can be added between the words in the name.
Apologies for the darkness of this poem….sometimes my words go to the dark side. Perhaps it’s all the Jeffrey Epstein stories in the news right now. I know this is a frightening poem, even though it uses the following candies: Good and Plenty, Junior Mints, Milk Duds, Sugar Babies and Mr. Goodbar. I do not mean to make light of the Epstein files and their relationship to #47. It is a horrible story and one that must completely be released to the public. Again, apologies but the poem just came from my pen. My first poem for this prompt is MUCH HAPPIER!
Image made on Bing Create.
lillian the home poet 
Just the words “Mr. Goodbar” conjures up the book and movie, if you’re old enough to remember. And then, how can we not think of the Epstein files and all those poor girls? No need to apologize, Lill.
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You know, I’d totally forgotten about the Mr. Goodbar book and movie when I wrote this. Thanks, Merril.
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You’re welcome, Lillian!
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OMG! How devastating
much♡love
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Yes…may pen went to the dark side and came up with this!
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This is incredibly dark and powerful, Lil! I was so invested that I did not realize at first the mention of candies seamlessly woven into the poem! ❤️❤️
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Sometimes I finish writing and just stare at what I’ve written. Where did that come from?
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Dark but very powerful Lillian reat take on the prompt ❤️
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Thank you….not a real “sweet” poem for a “sweets” prompt though…but the pen takes you where it takes you!
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Yes I know 😆
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Mr. Goodbar sounds like an “enigma.” Ugh, I went through my share of issues when I was in the Air Force. You definitely portrayed the predator well in this poem, Lill.
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Oh Colleen….I am so sorry to here that. With all the Jeffrey Epstein news, this just sort of erupted out of my pen.
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I think the Epstein issue triggers many women. This reads like a message from the collective!
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Well done. Yours sounds about as tragic as mine.
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Sometimes the pen refuses to do the “sweet” thing!
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so so powerfully written as a father to a young woman this hits home rather hard.
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Thank you, Rog. Yes….sadly, oh so sadly, this does happen.
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This is so sad, especially because it happens.
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Exactly.
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Yikes!
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Exactly.
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Your poem is a masterpiece. Diane Keaton played the role in the film “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” ~~ beautifully I might add. Your dark poem is a terrifying description of what happens when young women, girls, older ladies too, take a walk on the wild side.
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Someone else mentioned the film. I know I saw it many years ago….might have to watch it again, now.
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This was chilling and disturbingly well written. The way you wove the candy names into something so sinister without it feeling forced is powerful. It reads like a cautionary tale, but also an indictment. Dark, yes, but sometimes the dark is where the truth hides.
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Sadly, that is very true: “…sometimes the dark is where the truth hides.”
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Bravo, Lillian, for writing this!
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Thank you!
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Poems like this need to be written. We live in a time filled with horror and poets must witness what is happening in our time. Thank you for writing this.
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I’m humbled by your reply. I hesitate to say “glad you liked it” because liking really can’t happen in situations like the poem describes. As I mentioned, the Jeffrey Epstein news which just keeps coming and coming, is disturbing and brought these words from my pen. And now they’ve found the “birthday book” with #47’s writing/drawing in it….and hopefully it will be subpoema it. Elon Musks’ angry off-the-cuff words on X after he left Doge about Donald’s name being in the Epstein files…and then taking it down 2 hours later were prescient.
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I’ve really thought about these problems we’re facing today is a problem that I have to wait on. It hasn’t finished playing out. Dealing with the potential for cultural fascism is huge. We need an indirect way to deal with fascists. One way is to talk about fascism in a different era. This is one of the blessings of science fiction that the very lyrical poetry I often write often doesn’t have. Lyrical poetry is very direct where science fiction can be vague and indirect while fully exploring all of the implications of today’s problems. Science fiction can write about the evils of today or the general themes of today, using other worlds and imagined people’s. Writing about hate in any era, particularly about how there are concerns about repeating the sins of the past while disguising them in the clothing of an alternate future is something science fiction is very good at and bringing that to poetry, I think, is important.
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Yes, dark but well done. Kudos 👏🏾👏🏾
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Thank you!
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Chilling and oh so good! Great verse, Kim.
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