2012
I remember I once came home from work & got drunk
on the couch watching his Netflix Live From the Beacon
Theater special & my laughter echoed through the
house & my mom wondered what was so funny & joined me
she sat on the recliner put her feet up & she, too, laughed / confused
about why she was even laughing at the mock masturbation
everyone in that audience shrieking
2017
my mother is 60 [looks 50]
gets hit on by hordes
of hungry younger men
at her job–
can smell the wolf on them
(she sells cologne)
yet every harassment story
she tells starts with I have to tell you
something– you
are going
to laugh
(originally published in Fishbowl Press, Winter 2020)