she was dancing on a sidewalk chalk outline
of a man I knew back in vietnam even though
i was never there except that time i watched 
that movie with charlie sheen before he died
on two and a half men next week. 

i said to her, "her... please, don't
stop dancing." 
so she stopped dancing, and started
to mime this crow that I had seen in someone's yard
a few weeks before when I was ploughing the fields
i have never been to in your life. I said, "her...
what does it mean when you stub your toe
watching love
boat?"

she kicked a rock (not hudson) and lisped
something about julie or gopher or isaac
and i wondered how it all related back to my fantasy
I never bothered to have of her in a lavender tutu
drinking shots of V-8 and railing about choochoos
and big ol' chevy pick-ups. Orange and 
missing the citrus of the moment. 

I said to her, "her... please, don't

so she did. 

Oh God, she did

and there i was it was d-day, or peal harbor
dazed and sitting on the side of vesuvius asking
Mrs. Craib, what was it like
'no one liked it'
she said.