whenever I got paid for a new poem
I would run to McCoolies & buy
a bottle of absinthe & bring it up to
Margete's room; it was said Margete
was the oldest ***** in the city &
the mother of all the other ******;
when I get my royalty check I pay my
rent & buy my gf a bouquet of flowers;
Margete was rotund; unshaven w/ a
mustache & nautical tattoos over her
whole body; never removing her rolled
stockings & nodding off on laudanum;
we go to that new restaurant & she tells
me her sister is having another baby;
we never talk about poetry; the one
time we did she drank too much & passed
out in the cab; we never talked about
poetry after that; turns out Margete was
married all along to a cuckolded banker;
her father a banker & secret admirer
of Wallace Stevens pretends to be upset
his daughter is marrying a poet but
secretly is thrilled that someone will
take her off his hands & drag her
kicking & screaming into the real world