Friday, November 20, 2015

That Makes a Thief



Lost & Found

Let me love you
in an empty townhouse
on Fairfax Street

Let me laugh at you
sweating twilights
in Glover Park

Across splintery floors
and blankets of yard

Gin and Tonics
dry Martinis
hair slicked back

I lived by the canal
and got my hair cut there
was followed everywhere

Except to school

In the brightest light of summer
the steps to campus
in Mississippi shadows

When I got dinner
the bright-eyed fellow
couldn’t do the math

I had barely six dollars for
ham and cheese, turned out
he had much less than that

I only needed a sandwich and
wouldn’t have minded losing
50 cents

Some grumbling from the back
got him trembling, made him forget
or not realize

That 90 minus 63
will not matter, ever
beyond Georgetown

Meanwhile, back at the Papermill
there were accusatory messages:
to whomever stole my Tab…

Well, I stole your Tab!

I was poor and I was thirsty
and had less than perfect respect

That makes a thief



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