“Nerves Before Our First Date”
Oh, I have to build in time to buy her flowers.
And oh, I have to wear jeans if I do that, or it will be too much.
And oh, I want to buy her flowers and wear the black slip dress
with the tricolor scarf knotted around my waist,
and oh, I want to slip off the scarf-belt in the bar
and oh, slip it around her waist
to lead her into me, oh,
to lead her home, oh,
and oh, I want to draw it up through her center
until she cries it out her mouth—
Oh! like a bright, white dove
waking up on a surprised magician’s hatrim,
not hopping but flying.
