In Some Café on the Upper West Side

by Jennifer Juneau

she said she’d never sleep with a man she’d known less than six months
she’s afraid she’ll bruise the virgin mary, she said
& all she’d been taught in a plaid skirt it wouldn’t be smart
to talk about first dates, i thought, or the fact that life’s too short
so i ordered a dirty martini
she drank holy water from a paper cup
who hasn’t died of ecstasy one time or another
you know what i’m talking about i hope

later the sun broke through clouds
and i took the F train to the lower east side
she hopped a taxi to her f light at jf k
(or maybe to newark i wasn’t sure) back to the west coast
i thought of van gogh and what he once said:
something about dying of passion & i’d rather & boredom
and i assembled a poem & sent it to myself by text
and read it on stage to a lively crowd in a dim & happening place