Sailor Girl

by H. D. Brown

Sailor Girl
          for J. J.

He could make them dance
the shitty sailor girl tattoos
pricked into his forearms
over months of sitting
at anchor in Cam Ranh Bay
their outline finished when
the artist was sent home
by a thatched hatch cover
hiding a captured ma deuce
in a sampan thrown open
fifty cal rounds ringing
out across the water
the tattoos of course
came home incomplete
but he could make them dance