.................................
otters
.................................

otters -- you have forgotten otters
with sleek tube torsos
                    and stubby little legs
with handy clenched clawpaws
                        tiny child fingers
fickle pinktongue satin
                      or more a wet sea towel
slinky serpent-silly
                   tumble down slick slopes
rosenose silly-whiskered --
                        and you --
i see you have forgotten otters.

 
.................................
21st birthday
.................................

by this hour i am made legal.
                        the hive buzzes persons
whom i should know but do not. "what's your
pleasure?" i know nothing of the intoxicating sea.
i order cola in a plastic cup. it flatlines.

        clock tick. i wait for a friend
who never comes. ruffle my shawl. my clothes feel
the everglades. thunderhead, my eyes threaten downpour
even as i grab the umbrella. ready my excuse
tonguetip abashed but no one
asks.

        old men chat whitehaired to cheer me. i sip a
beer bubbling gold piss.

        sip my beer with a fashion photo halfsmile
a nod yes-things-were-so-different-then. gather my booted
feet and delicately lope to the toilets.

.................................
jenne micale
.................................

 
Copyright © jenne micale
December 1996

...three poems in this room by ann foster...
the coffee you poured on my words
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