Neptune's Nightclub (Poetry)

I don’t know what it was that night
that caused him to pick me
the room an oyster crammed with pearls
the dancers were a sea

Was it my fishnet stockings
which caught his roving eye
that frill of lace around their tops
the fleeting glimpse of thigh?

Or was it my stilettos
those so-slender five-inch heels
distracting in their fashion
while each coy peeptoe reveals

a painted nail blood-scarlet
plus a silver mermaid charm
a-dangle from my anklet
shanty music rocking calm?

Well this sailor pitched some corny line
well-totted-up with rum
his face shone like a lantern
pale-cheeked from lack of sun

His skinny arm slid round me
one kiss he took then two
the tang of danger warned me
as his fingerbones poked through ...

I was smooching with a skeleton
a pirate bold no less
and he crushed me with a Ho Ho Ho
against his hollow chest

I saw then what the truth was
as fish darted through the air
which was thick with rising bubbles
green weedy streamers everywhere

Gone giddy now and gasping
I struggled to break free
half-ran half-swam towards the door
fear lent its fins to me

I got away but lost my shoes
my handbag left behind
but grateful on reflection that
I salvaged half my mind

I never trawl the nightclubs on
the harbour side of town
since rumour carried strange reports
old Neptune’s place shut down

Tides come and go — that building leans
as though its walls are drawn
forever seawards inch by inch
tugged further by each storm

It’s hard to talk about that night
I danced with Davy Jones
I can’t forget the touch or sight
of those long fingerbones