Chatter

[Hollweg]

I keep trying to talk myself
out of it. All the women--
What does it mean?
Nothing makes you feel older than
Children, nothing makes you
Feel randier than women, like
It's a dream.
I don't know, I'm
So screwed up. Well, I can
Imagine you as a butcher.
Souper Salad: $4.00--all you can
Eat. Corelli, Telleman, Bach--
When he stopped playing piano,
His wife broke out in a
sweat. The Potato Eaters,
The Haystack, the
Wreck of Hesperus, The Wreck of
The Edmund Fitzgerald, The Picture of Dorian Grey;
Twenty feet away
a lifetime ago, lips inches
Apart, I thought there was something
special that we did once, but I can't
remember it. Lie, lie, I see it like
Yesterday--I feel your lips; I feel
Your breasts. I still feel your breasts.
They had this enormous beach ball--
You had to throw it over
the net--it was
Really hard. Do you, sir, take this beach ball
To be your lawfully wedded wife?
Do you, beach ball . . .
It was interesting to watch.
When I was young--she said--I thought
Every man I met was the one. Wasn't
That funny? He's the one, and I would
Live happily ever after. I had the
male version of that fantasy--I said--I
thought every girl I met wanted to go to
Bed with me. Isn't that silly?
Why? Do you want me to go home? I don't want
it off! I don't want to
Talk about it.
Just as much as you. Are you serious?
Well, it's never been explained to me but
That's what I figure. When you turn
A woman away, she's that
Much more curious.

[dadio]

Very good poem.