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Privates
i was walking down william
street and a little kid was talking
with his father, “i didn’t hit him
in the privates.”-the boy said, “i
hit him in the stomach. he hit me
in the privates.”-i laughed and then
the dad laughed. my old man used
to say privates but we never had a
moment like that. i miss my father.
sometimes when people don’t talk
they say all the wrong things. it’s
tough to catch up twice a year and
be the mistakes. that version of him
is a version of me and i love him more
than i love myself because that’s good
love. i sat in silence and cried to myself.
i got a beer and felt my muscles, took my
shirt off and the beer was cold and the
fan was on and i wondered when i didn’t
care anymore. i shopped for pointy shoes
like they don’t make. i hung a world
map in the kitchen and bought a plant
for my room. i died an old man alone
on a bus going to new mexico when she
stopped giving me love. understand
sometimes it just takes a little longer.
like a volcano, dad.
like a volcano.
The Sun Is Mine
drought and famine exist
and the money is tight and
kindergarten teachers, movers
and fag hags all have the
worst job in the world.
not my kind of people. i have
a stripper girlfriend named evita
with no common sense. she lives
in the bronx and likes the mohawk
her mother gave me. her ex harasses
her sometimes and I’m sure
he’d like to kill me. she has
earings like hula hoops, brown eyes
like a puppy dog and hair like slash.
women like this get a man in trouble.
she says I don’t want to kiss her because
i don’t want to like her. i’m like
the hooker come to think of it
but I never thought things that way.
i just had dorito breath. The smell
of rain is coming. katherine
hepburn is missing and the corner
store is out of my brand of cigarettes.
the legend shrinks across the
autumn moon but the sun is mine.
Michael Internicola is the author of four novels, KISS ME BABY SUNFLOWERS!,
CHAZ, ALL OUR SKIES ARE BLUE and AS RIGHT AS RAIN. His work has appeared in Thieves Jargon,
Zygote In My Coffee, Smokebox and many other national magazines. He holds a B.A. in
English from Canisius College. He lives in Key West, Florida.
Email: Michael Internicola
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