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Matthew Paris Susan Sherman
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BEATNIK

I wore a pleated skirt
From the kitchen you were attracted to me
from the table you were attracted to me
you ordered ice cream and hamburgers
and ice cream and french fries
and then ice cream again
Finally all the customers left
and I sat down at the table with you to count my tips
When you hired me, I'd sat down on your bed
Later you said – I thought you were a beatnik
that you wouldn't last 2 days.

©Lois Michal Unger 1999__
_______________________________

SHE SAT IN A NITECLUB WITH HER DATE

She sat in a niteclub with her date
the music was very loud
there was someone at another table
with a cruel mouth
they stared at each other
he slipped her a matchbook
with his phone number
when she got home her heart
was beating very fast
shabbily dressed
he looked like a junky
his mouth was very familiar
she wanted his mouth
she didn’t call
she was afraid
she was a very good girl.

Artie Waldorf

I was 9 when Artie Waldorf got out of prison
and grabbed my mother and kissed her
I know he just got out because
my sister stayed up late and listened

That winter his wife Frances wore lots of jewelry
and mink coats
his son Jacky gave me my first kiss

Once he put his fist through my mother's dumbwaiter
when my uncle Sammy's friend Cream Cheese
came on to Frances

It was the winter Frances wore all the jewelry
and mink coats
or maybe it was the next one
that Artie got shot to death in a barbershop chair

Daddy said he probably wanted too much.

©Lois Michal Unger 1999 __

I SEE YOU ACROSS MEMORIES EYES

I see you across memories eyes
younger then
feel the heat from the cookstove you turned on
see the brick walls

You had turned the lights out at your play
for affect
and people walked out

I see us in my first apartment
Someone is scaring me on the phone
you say to the voice
'Go fuck yourself'
I feel protected

We are in your apartment
with purple linen walls
it's winter
but I always feel warm in your bed

I see you as you looked when I first knew you
thin and bony
and your hair was black
but you hardly ever smiled

I see you the day my show
came back to town
you had sent me a telegram
'Call me'
We slept together that day
Uptown in someone else's apartment

I see us in a theatre lobby
we looked at each other like strangers
it was your show and you hadn’t invited me
someone else had
I was ashamed because the theatre playbill
said you were two years younger than me
In the lobby I didn’t talk to you
Later I called you up and said I was sorry
Your voice was a little hysterical
You didn’t care what I thought you said.

You called me your little sweetheart
and we slept together for six years

I see you in rooms apartments streets
I see you across memories eyes
I sometimes smell your smell.

I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU

I fell in love with you
when I read your Poem to the Motherfucker
men are animals to me
who know how to fix things
the rest is playing house

it burnt in the fire
I just remember the title now