Are you for real?

Rick Deckard: “Have you felt yourself to be exploited in any way?”
Zhora: “Like what?”
Deckard: “Well… well, like to get this job. I mean, did… did you do, or… or were you asked to do anything lewd… or unsavory, or… or, otherwise repulsive to your… your person, huh?”
Zhora: [laughs] “Are you for real?”

For Zhora aka K

K you remind me so much of Zhora in Blade Runner
the tough snake woman
who ends up gunned down in the back-
You have been to prison,
so beautiful but so jaded,
you see men including myself
as licks not to waste more than 10 minutes
with to get off
so you can get your tickets
of heroin
but the other day
when your drug dealer
landlord threw you out
because you lost or
gotten stolen your tickets of heroin
and he was berating you
to the point
you were crying
when I offered you
a motel room for the night
so you could figure things out
you reminded me of Zhora when she was
running from Deckard
as he was trying to shoot
her in the back,
you were begging me for money
so you could crawl back to your drug dealing
landlord, it about made me cry
to see you having to beg me for money-
It reminded me of Zhora's story-
All that tough talking
just to be running for your life
and getting shot in the back in public
as your drug dealing landlord berated you in public-
There is no difference to me
between movies and real life now-
The endings are almost the same-

Jean Jones has an MFA in Creative Writing Poetry from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He teaches English as a Second Language part-time at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina-His poetry gets published regularly by Aphelion Webzine and The Horror Zine.

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