How Does a Chick Get Service in a Joint Like This? Canto 1

CANTO 1   August 22, 2011

It was supposed to be better

It was supposed to be better

Damn it!

Future tense in the past

Tense like a wire

That will kill you if it gives

My father said he never wanted sons

They would be too competitive

My mother wanted at least one son

To take care of her

She was not happy that I arrived

Another damned daughter to marry off

Who couldn’t take care of her.

My 142 IQ meant nothing to her

Without a penis between my legs

Although, later in life, there were

Plenty of…well, you get the joke.

My sister was pink sweater sets

And girlfriends and boyfriends

And back seats and A&W Root Beer

I stayed in my room, dreaming of

Boys on the television and writing plays

And then they decided that it would be smart

To go to war in Vietnam

My advanced History teacher, Mr. Cox

Locked the door and told us not to tell our parents

That he was turning us into Peaceniks

Even the boy who loved Barry Goldwater

Became a member of the SDS

Falling off my high heeled shoes

And smearing the makeup on my face

And never getting the hair or clothes right

I was ripe for the next thing to come

But that would take two years of

Running the mimeograph and fetching coffee

Before the women started to realize

That we were the slaves of the Revolution

That we were an oppressed majority

Looking for that man to marry

To keep our mothers quiet and content

We called the first meeting “Bread and Roses”

And it was supposed to make it better.