8.8.99, midnite

*          *          *

The man on my right
glances my thigh with his
hand almost imperceptible
to the man on my left my
elbows jutting into
both           the man on my right
massages my elbow the man
on my left whispers into my
ear I whisper into the
ear of man on right who says

          it's good to see you

let's put back the awkward
situation piece by piece

          A class of four he
says she is a former
lover of mine and the
assignment is to write a love
poem he writes about me
she writes of former lovers
I edit spontaneously to
include
no one familiar
insert anonymous

After the movie my hands and knees
are swollen I limp past
the transgendered females
who had 1:45 earlier torn my
ticket

          Those women, they're all
men I said to the man who
would eventually be seated to my right
          Really, he exclaimed on
the lookout for the man who
would eventually sit
on my left
all whispering          all touching

          I say           but I belong to
          no one

Four person class I say
          You've slept with all the women
in this class.  There were two.
I wondered if she told her male
friend during lunch break
that he was an ex-lover of
hers I edit the poem
so as not to include
the part about him paying for my
car tires.

Man on the right I'm sorry
Man on the left I'm sorry
Man on the right shhhh I'm
          trying to watch
          the movie.