Noir

Chuckle.  Flash a badge.  A knowing look.
_____"Oldest trick in the book."
_____"There are tricks even older than that,
Chief -- give the mirror a harder look."
Crimes I've committed by the score!
I confess them all:
The pains I took;
success and bust;
thought and not.
Even when disemboweled
I made sure to have a ball.
Fifteen minutes:  wasn't I hot!
Gag me with a spoon --
the interrogation room
splits open to holes
shot in me from head to toe.
Oh, flatfoot, remember back when
we were just idiot kids?  At ten,
teevee intoned, "The Shadow knows!"
Of Janus and gaslight we muse
over lunch on what I'm owed.
Let's die of euphoria!
Let's die of fright!
Let's die with minds not our own!
Deep down inside I'm just a hard-boiled dame
who yearns to be done right,
weighed down with what she's been shown.