The Badlands Beyond

This piece was put together in response to a writing dare by @StoryBandit on Twitter, whose exact words were:
"We dare you to write a 149-word poem using the following words: mimosa, contiguous, ladle hanks, #writingdare"

The dares don't say anything about using the words in the exact given order (thank goodness!) :-)

The watering hole sits

At the very edges

Of the known world.
Carefully contiguous,

With the Badlands beyond,

But even the building leans away
Back towards the known world

As much as it can.

Here, humidity hugs skin

With the fervour of a drowning man

Algae blooms on everything

That remains still.

Its patrons have their reasons

The walls are rendered
With their desperation,
Fear and greed.

But Badlands stories beckon

As they do

Luring victims and venturers

Feeding legends.

Hanks of hair

Hang from a wall

A token memorial
To Badlands' venturers.
They dangle near displays
Of ladles, hairbrushes, watches

Useless niceties mocked.

The girl is out of place

She orders a Mimosa

Virgin, no less

The snicker sounds

Like a collective cough.

She sits young, confident

Unaware that the longer she stays
The greater the chance
One day

This place will seep

Malevolently

Into her very marrow.

------------

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