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)