Illicit Wealth and Warm Water


…from somewhere in the station’s rafters     Pahn
sees the man is moving          across
the station floor     in a raincoat      long
black 
Pahn sees that he is skipping       and thinks
 “He would be skipping on his way
to deliver the money
because he is nervous
                       afraid
of being caught”
but then                                                        
          Pahn wonders   if it is just the reverse 

Pahn glides down  
 through the station    into
the man’s body    and continues
toward his contact

  Now he feels    the weight of the package 
He wonders   how it could be
so much money
in so small a box
  He skips up the steps                                  
to the elevated area
where the man reading a newspaper
is facing the wall                                                     

The man turns around    with a smile 

Pahn gives him the package
and  walks away 
Halfway across the floor     he stops
and asks himself

 “why am I leaving?
 Why don’t  I    get my wife’s share now?” 

And so he turns around                  
walks back to the man      
and goes with him
to the roof
where Pahn says

“I think I will take my wife’s half now   rather
than have you pay her for it later
  I know it is not mine                                    
  but anything that is hers is half mine
 and what’s hers is mine anyway
in a manner of speaking”
 
He half smiles   as he says the last phrase  
and the man shrugs   and opens the package
saying
almost to himself 
“I wonder how they’ve sent it this time” 

It is two books 

The man gives one to Pahn
and inspects his own copy     He notes
disapprovingly
some pages stuck together                 Pahn asks
“how does this work?” 

The man answers
 “Each picture of a painting    has a price by it
 You send away to redeem the money”…

 …Pahn wonders how    he will put so much money
in his bank account    without arousing suspicion


Pahn is in Italy with his accomplices
They have rented a hotel room for the night  

Pahn is sitting    in the easy chair     
contemplating the book 
He is wondering    what is the safest way
to take it past customs 

A man    and a woman    come in the back door 

The woman is wearing      
loose black
wavy fabric
not lacy          
not cut low            
she
 is not young                                         
her body    barely shows

 but there is no sense
of restriction                          
in her clothes

She takes an immediate interest
in Pahn
 
She seems a little strange                      
on edge 
unstable
 laughing out of time
                              moving unexpectedly 
grasping at Pahn
 
Pahn listens to her                                   
         lets her touch him                                                
 
He likes her enough

 Pahn has always had a thing    for nutty women 

The man she came with    says something   like

‘you can have her               
         but you’ll be sorry—                
she puddles’

Pahn thinks briefly   of venereal disease
                                          but dismisses it
and he cannot imagine    any way
          she would hurt him 

The other men go off    to have drinks  
Pahn stays in the room with her         

                            She lies           across the bed
       on her back
   with her head
      tilting down
over the edge                

and he climbs on top of her
quickly and easily
 finding her
   
He wonders
 if she could really be   ready
so soon—
 feels himself    slip    neatly inside her—
 begins                 

She is wide                                              
and hollow
 
She lies contentedly
              as if out of breath
from dancing  

He feels    warm water                    
pouring gently                  
from her                                                           
   
He doesn’t care
                          it’s a hotel bed 

He begins to lose interest                                 
but continues                               
absentmindedly
until he feels
he is
pooling
inside her


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


Some of these poems originally appeared in the following publications

Avocet
Dream International Quarterly
mojo risin'
The Muse Apprentice Guild (The MAG)
Transfer

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