TRIMMING THE UNKNOWN
I open the door to the jetsam of black curls
Cast into a linoleum sea
As fluorescent light glints off scissors and smiles.
Smelling the shaving cream and my own fear,
I sit in a distant chair and pick up a magazine,
Glance up from time to time
Like a rodent peeking out of his hole
To study the row of dark, sinewy panthers
In relaxed lethal beauty.
I am different, surely different.
But welcome?
When we meet in English 206
Is it your English B?
Do you ever forget?
Are you always a penguin at the Pole;
Facing the biting white wind
And barren, frozen desert
And somehow staying alive—
Almost thriving?
You are different, surely different.
But welcome?
BETTER THAN YOU BLUES
I ain’t a looker, baby,
But I look better than you.
No, I ain’t a looker, baby,
But I look better than you.
And if you don’t treat me better,
I’m gonna look for somebody new.
I ain’t a singer, honey,
But I sing better than you.
No, I ain’t a singer, honey,
But I sing better than you.
And if you break my heart again,
I’m gonna sing for somebody new.
I ain’t a runner, darlin’,
But I run faster than you.
No, I ain’t a runner, darlin’,
But I run faster than you.
And if you leave me alone again,
I’m gonna run to somebody new.
I ain’t a looker, baby,
But I look better than you.
No, I ain’t a looker, baby,
But I look better than you.
And if you don’t treat me better,
I’m gonna look for somebody new.
