Wholesale Beach Bones, by Sheila Duane

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Beach Bones is dedicated to the victims of the Long Island serial killer whose bodies have been found along Gilgo Beach and other nearby waterways. The murders of these people were horrific, and the aftermath was horrific as well. News reporting about the discovery of the victims often stresses the women’s occupation as sex workers. There is less discussion about murdered human beings and more commentary about the fact that ‘choosing’ sex work as an occupation is dangerous. Did these murdered women choose to be sex workers? Or did they become vulnerable due to generational poverty, poor education, addiction, and lack of other opportunities?