the shower
we like to shower afterwards
(I like the water hotter than she)
and her face is always soft and peaceful
and she’ll wash me first
spread the soap over my balls
lift the balls
squeeze them,
then wash the cock:
“hey, this thing is still hard!”
then get all the hair down there,—
the belly, the back, the neck, the legs,
I grin grin grin,
and then I wash her …
first the cunt, I
stand behind her, my cock in the cheeks of her ass
I gently soap up the cunt hairs,
wash there with a soothing motion,
I linger perhaps longer than necessary,
then I get the backs of the legs, the ass,
the back, the neck, I turn her, kiss her,
soap up the breasts, get them and the belly, the neck,
the fronts of the legs, the ankles, the feet,
and then the cunt, once more, for luck …
another kiss, and she gets out first,
toweling, sometimes singing while I stay in
turn the water on hotter
feeling the good times of love’s miracle
I then get out …
it is usually mid-afternoon and quiet,
and getting dressed we talk about what else
there might be to do,
but being together solves most of it,
in fact, solves all of it
for as long as those things stay solved
in the history of woman and
man, it’s different for each
better and worse for each—
for me, it’s splendid enough to remember
past the marching of armies
and the horses that walk the streets outside
past the memories of pain and defeat and unhappiness:
Linda, you brought it to me,
when you take it away
do it slowly and easily
make it as if I were dying in my sleep instead of in
my life, amen.
I was glad I had money in the Savings and Loan
Friday afternoon hungover
I didn’t have a job
I was glad I had money in the Savings and Loan
I didn’t know how to play a guitar
Friday afternoon hungover
Friday afternoon hungover
across the street from Norm’s
across the street from The Red Fez
I was glad I had money in the Savings and Loan
split with my girlfriend and blue and demented
I was glad to have my passbook and stand in line
I watched the buses run up Vermont
I was too crazy to get a job as a driver of buses
and I didn’t even look at the young girls
I got dizzy standing in line but I
just kept thinking I have money in this building
Friday afternoon hungover
I didn’t know how to play the piano
or even hustle a damnfool job in a carwash
I was glad I had money in the Savings and Loan
finally I was at the window
it was my Japanese girl
she smiled at me as if I were some amazing god
back again, eh? she said and laughed
as I showed her my withdrawal slip and my passbook
as the buses ran up and down Vermont
the camels trotted across the Sahara
she gave me the money and I took the money
Friday afternoon hungover
I walked into the market and got a cart
and I threw sausages and eggs and bacon and bread in there
I threw beer and salami and relish and pickles and mustard in there
I looked at the young house wives wiggling casually
I threw t-bone steaks and porter house and cube steaks in my cart
and tomatoes and cucumbers and oranges in my cart
Friday afternoon hungover
split with my girlfriend and blue and demented
I was glad I had money in the Savings and Loan.
the angel who pushed his wheelchair
long ago he edited a little magazine
it was up in San Francisco
during the beat era
during the reading-poetry-with-jazz experiments
