Answering the Call

Fuck you William Carlos Williams!


THE REST OF IT GOES HERE
Answering the Call
Through rain-beaded glasses
I see you standing alone
across the street
in a red party dress
smoking a white cigarette
beneath the green awning
so much depends on this,
I think to myself,
surprised by the thought:
an Alice in Wonderland poster
is affixed to the window to your left
It’s late on a Friday night
and somehow we’re alone
I light a Pall Mall
to steel my courage
Are you the woman
with lots of cash
whom my dad’s
always telling me to meet?
he also says
don’t talk to strangers
so I’m frozen for a moment
not sure what to do.
But then you motion
with a white-gloved hand
for me to come
you take my hand
we enter the store
and find ourselves
staring at a long table
covered with a red and black
checkered table cloth
behind which sits
the Mad Hatter
Would you like to stay for beer, he says
Don’t you mean tea? I say
My name’s Emily, the girl says
I’ll like to stay if you do.
Or maybe you’re otherwise preoccupied?
the Mad Hatter says
You followed me for a reason, didn’t you?
Emily says
I didn’t want to mention
the cash or how much she had,
at that moment it seemed moot
Emily’s cartoonish eyes
were the same eyes as the animated
princesses I fell in love with
in preschool when I first
became addicted to beauty
and the idea of woman
But what about--
I thought of my obligations
my jobs, my friends
they’ll be fine, Emily says
your friends will be glad
that you’ve finally found
a home at the end of your path
and your jobs?--fuck ‘em--
you’ll never have to work here,
Look!
I followed the sweep
of her delicate white fingers
and as far as I could see
there were kegs of beer
then the archangel Michael appears
with pizza
So you say Yes?
the Mad Hatter says
Emily hands me a chilled mug,
unbuttons her shirt
Hell yes