HARKEMA Poem by Nyk de Vries

She started off handing out hundred-dollar tips in the clubs. A year later they'd gone down to thirty. Her star was sinking, even she realised that much, and one night she walked towards the docks alone. There she climbed up to the arm of an enormous crane, almost 500 feet above ground level. She held on to a narrow girder and looked out over the dark city. What she was doing was terribly dangerous, but she smiled. The Harkema community centre - now that was dangerous.