1669

CANDY

On the A after 145
Three Dominican women pass among themselves
Photographs, a bottle of Poland Spring
And a real estate listings book

I'm collecting scenes
Where the movie turns out
To be about the woman

Take the first word
You look like
Into the bathroom of the bar

I'm not going to lie to you
Yes I am
You're a good whisperer
That thing feels like morning

A stare in the other direction
Doesn't mean you don't love me
But the lion from here's named Tiffany
And the bats close in on my heart
Whatever that looks like

So distracted maybe it's the humidity
They moved the flea market inside
French spoken into cell phones curbside

Engagement ring and tight white tee
Round face turned down away
Checking her navel ring for lint

Sideburns and buzz up the neck
Holding his head parallel to the floor
Looking at a yellowed novel or soda spots
Etchings over the chapter numbers
I can smell the parlor from across the car

You know companionship
In the aggregate is a lot like sex
But why assuming we're only alive once
Would anybody watch the same movie
A hundred times unless they
Were just so angry

Jane Russell's yielding mouth
That's why

Now I get the whole
'Cleave unto your husband'
Ah but she married the camera
Thank the lord

If you're going to ask me
A doozy of a rhetorical question like that
At least have the decency
To stick around for my flip reply

Spontaneity overrated?
So's your mother

I mean that in the nicest possible way
I mean, you could stop idealizing her already
What are you, fifteen?

What'd you get at the shoppe?
Stuffe.

The stories we tell.
Have I told you the one
About my marriage? No?
Good.

Listen,
That's the sound
We can't even make working as a team.