Do you want me to come over there? He’s panting. He’s panting fabulous. She’s tan. She’s handicapped. She’s tand and handicapped. She’s Pat. She’s married. She’s forgotten. She is at risk for sexually transmitted diseases. She’s tarnished. She’s wilted. Wasted, warped. He’s warped, he’s disabled, he’s dyslexic. He’s young.
She talks so fast my head spins. Dizziness disease.
Explosions in the steam pipes.
Rigidity in the synapses.
Men are hard work.
Men do hard work.
Hard at work, hard workers.
Handiwork, hardiwork.
Mistresses.
Jim. Sam. Bob. Bill. What will they do?
I am sad. Little girl with pastry, mother talking on the cellphone. Unsweetened. Men doing crosswords with raised eyebrows.
Some things I don’t have room for. Titles. Organizational structures. Some things I have a talent for. Some men are women, some women are men. I have my own clients now. I’m managing the project. This is my practice. Practice management system. What is manageable, what is unmanageable. What is your sentence? Linda saying. Job interview. I will ask you a hard question. Your job is to ask the hard questions. Change management. This and that. When are we on the same page.
Com mun i ca tion
Se man tics
It’s not just semantics. I will blurt. I will micromanage. I will be an addict. I will repeat the question. I will get the job done. Please.
I am—APPALLED. Are you walking? Are you walking on the trail? Audaciously? The words of men. The Buddha gotra means the buddha lineage, the Buddha garva means the buddha womb. Are you cranking? Are you listening to the music? Or are you playing it?
Armored men. Armchair men. Marmada. Sweet as marmalade. That’s very sweet of you.
But no whipped cream.
What are these women up to? And then these men, their heads white and bony, their chins with flaps like lizards, that they have to shave.