takes on Hollywood armed with
height, blonde hair, and attitude –
talent? don’t know for sure,
but she can cook and
overcompensate for poverty with high
class tastes and higher ambitions
while scraping by, streetwise – yes,
knows wine and makes connections –
fragility? don’t know for sure,
tragic love could break her

transplanted southern gent –
passed round the office pictures
of hisself in blackface at a party,
in passing near the elevators
mentioned he enjoyed the (nude
posture) photos of my classmates
at Wellesley (I didn’t go to Wellesley) –
when the good old boy was good
it was probably just a front

correction: he was in charge
of everything except the kitchen
famously her territory – don’t mess up

she was European elegant
proud of her service as an executive secretary
experimented with the women’s group but
experienced too much dissonance to relax there

    some women live as portraits
    within old world frames

my teacher of santosha sleek
white maned Asl-ann inhabiting
the studio offers me a vision
of a way to be
a way to be a
way to be now in
the moment whether asana or
pranayama, sitting, standing, sweating,
lying down, hearing her voice later
in my head, with gratitude

charismatic baby “Dukey” blond curls
birth defects casts prosthestic leg
adopted Boy Scout high school
graduate laid back volunteer fireman
“Doughboy” “Buster” billiards – every
detail of his birth and life
overshadowed by the manner of
his death – murder, gunshot to
the head, Georgetown, Connecticut,
April 1995; next day Oklahoma City

how to gentrify the lake:
build a year-round house
(set back legally of course)
put in a lawn and drainage
for the flower beds retire
talk of starting a business
selling countrified creations resist
going about in boats stay
indoors after dark say
I want to see a moose