Tina & Rico and Bernard & Theresa
Mama made the switch
jump the track
choo-choo
she said
as she stuffed applesauce
up the baby’s nose.
Tina wanted Rico
wanted Rico so hard
she nearly split
that watermelon boozed hard
Rico split
and Tina went away to Bernard.
Bernard brave as a bear
falters his father face
on the staircase to Theresa’s room.
Bernard will only say
that Theresa is already gone.
Theresa, that strange huntress,
ready to sign her way through
a father’s vigilance;
her soft virgin’s virtues sing
an eight-bar blues
about the fall of night on the Neva river.
Her river runs through it unnamed.
This is the smallest word.
Word comes to Tina,
Mama and the baby are on the train
home.
choo-choo
Published on The Laundry Line April 19th, 2025.
