A Couple More Poems (it's been awhile...)

DRIVING LESSON

so i was riding
along with my cousin
to a party
and we were talking about
when we were kids

how our family cookouts and
get-togethers were so much fun
how our mothers and aunts made the best food
serving fresh lemonade and sandwiches
how our fathers and uncles told the best jokes
and drank cold Hamms beer from
aluminum pop-top cans
with a baseball game
crackling out of a transistor radio
on the picnic table

and I laughed about Uncle so-and-so
and his chain-smoking Marlboro cigarettes
when she said
No - they were Salems and
the reason I remember that
she said
is because one time
he asked me to run to his car and
grab another pack for him
and so I did
but I couldn't find those cigarettes

and I searched and searched
and checked the glove compartment
and under the seat
but didn't see them anywhere and
when I gave up looking
I turned around and there he was

he tried to kiss me

but i slipped away
and ran off as he was trying to say
he was sorry and please don't tell

about 30 seconds passed
as we drove along
before I could think of anything to say

so i said
are you SURE they weren't Marlboros ?


HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE R.

at that suburban bar you don't want to park in the parking lot
because the suburban cops watch over it and
pull over the patrons sometimes so it's best to
park a couple blocks away in the neighborhood
and that's what I did tonight before walking into the
birthday party of Joe R. and when you walk into
that suburban bar where Joe R. is throwing a party
you are walking into a family celebration and
he wraps you up in a big hug and then walks you around to
the rest of the group and brother, you are in
in like a capo to the Corleones

where tonight Emily was waiting the tables
tall and lean in her hip eyeglasses
that frame her lovely face perfectly as she
rounds the tables picking up emptys and
replacing the ashtrays with the kind of attitude
you wish every waitress had but truth be told
there's no one like Emily and you are
just happy with that

and the party carries on as Lefty the manager
tells Joe R. the next 3 shots are on him and
Joe R. says "I need a hug, then !" and Lefty says
"No thanks" but Joe R. insists "I'm Italian - don't deny me!"
and he walks behind the bar and grabs Lefty who
complies and then says "Get your dago ass back where it belongs!"
and we all laugh and raise our glasses
to the birthday boy and the manager who loves him
and to ourselves who are lucky enough to
be invited to such a party and
smart enough to park a couple blocks away
so the cops have no chance of ruining everything.