Philadelphia Sketches

venus she says silly sally squeezing in stepping up to the bar venus she says to the wonkish willing to please combo meal well-groomed properly scruffy self-proclaimed mixologist of libations loving and lustful

venus she says

while i come in on the tail end of the chit the chat she is ordering she is suggesting she is querying the menu she is eyeing the list of drinks the top shelf

oh she is oh so top shelf alighting as she has in a top shelf over the top vegan ristorante in center city such brotherly love baby i’ll be your brother i’ll be your kissing cousin i’ll be your dog on a leash down at the meeting house i’ll be all ben franklin dirty old man send off my kite into the lightening storm see what strikes my poor richard key

venus she says

yes i do yes i do like it spicy

oh goddamn she be coy

glance tossed over the shoulder coy a little wiggle and giggle coy coquettish coy kittenish coy

that eddies about the room swirling swoon and song and chimera of fred and ginger slip sliding tip tapping frisking frolicking we fall all over ourselves getting out of their way they sweep the room in ghostly gaslight

tap tap tap

even our hooch honcho willy wonka wearing white with black bowtie badly our connoisseur of cocktail our aleman with attitude even he falls he falls over his bottles all neatly arranged in front of the engraved mirror imprinted with a menagerie of baroque curlicues and spiraling whorls and the name not of this bar but perhaps the name of some bar

lost in the past
lost in space
lost in time

back in some story perhaps rooted in the ledgers of ben and the founding fathers those wig wearing whiteboys with wooden choppers

sanded stained varnished

a little sparkle when the sun shines

perhaps the owners simply had it made up down at the custom glass shop down in god’s pocket give the place that little bit of comme ci comme ca let les patrons think what they may what they don’t know won’t hurt them

what they don’t know
what they don’t know

is just a shout away

he our brave bartender he falls over his feet we fall out of our seats the door falls out into the street letting in a cool january breeze

clouds and all

is just a kiss away

and venus she

white bird in a golden cage

alone

venus she

slowly exhales through pursed lips that one demurely diffident eyebrow still arched a fine questioning mark atop hipster-cum-librarian narrow dark rimmed glasses

poised

a deliberate dramatic pause

then

venus she says

i like it spicy but only if you impress me

glancing left glancing right as she speaks ensuring she is noticed she is quite noticeable ensconced in her youngish wharton b-school starched white blouse unbuttoned down to where it’s too classy for cleavage where we all want to be but just can’t find the bus stop

and we just know there is lace down there we just know that lace pervades lace delicately and delightfully denouement

her long and dark silhouette dark raven dark straight hair pulled back so tight into a pony tail that i can easily simply reach out and

grab it
wrap it

around about my wrist yank it back jump on board this overly feminized equus dig in my spurs and still have enough slack left to use the tail as a crop as a whip

leaving pink stripes and hunger

upon what i know on what i can so easily picture imagine sketch a la police artist sitting at the desk with fountain pen and ink are such firm alabaster buttocks

which are right now held firm by this oh so tight pencil skirt projecting proposing such a perfect heart shape callipygian dollop i could i should simply take knife to fork scoop in my spoon hell simply tie a napkin about my chin tie my hands behind my back blindfold myself kneel at the gate of our madonna

swing low sweet chariot baby i got your spice i am your fire your desire your pepper poppin’ prole your piquant picante plebe

put me under lock and key keep me behind cyclone fence come out in the early morning pick a peck of pickled peppers go all locust on my bush strip me bare of all my fruit

oh my sweet’n’low succubus simply show up and swarm me

i’m so willing to impress

come on take a nibble on my pomiculture suck on my seed nibble on my zesty nut i will dazzle i will inspire i will take away your breath with my wasabi whistle white boy wit and wisdom

i will shimmy shimmy shuffle do the hip shake do the snoopy tiptoe dance across your thighs

steam coming out of your ears all bugs bunny like it’s shift change down at the plant down at the factory

love and rockets sugar we’re a hollywood story

john smith and pocahontas
heathcliff and catherine
jett and leslie
tony and maria

we’re never gonna have it we’re never gonna make it work i will sell my fresh new suits on the streets of paris whilst you sell yourself

i will stand in the streets beneath the streetlight and scream for stella

and you will finish your drink you will dab at your lips with a fine linen handkerchief you will give me a grin and a wink you will walk back across the tracks and i can only hope that you will perhaps perhaps give me a backward glance

philadelphia sketches and all that