Two Poems, Two Women (2013)

©2013 by Dallas Denny

Source:

Denny, Dallas. (2013). Changing fuel pumps on Chevrolets. Unpublished poem.

Denny, Dallas. (2013). Failing  her tests. Unpublished poem.

 

 

 

I spoke these into my iTouch while on the road from New York to Georgia in October, 2013. The feeling just came over me, and before I knew it they had rolled off my tongue— well, stumbled off, anyway. They’re unchanged, except for one misspoken word. Please excuse the highway noise.

I’m glad my iTouch was handy. You can’t ask the muse to wait.

 

Two Poems, Two Women Being Composed (MP3)

 

Changing Fuel Pumps on Chevrolets

 

I was outside in the twilight in the parking lot

Replacing the fuel pump on our Chevy Malibu

While you were inside the family planning clinic

Getting fitted for your new Dalkon Shield

Yeah, that one

The one that left your tubes scarred

The one that left you with an ectopic pregnancy

After we were separated

The child wasn’t mine

It didn’t matter

It was never born

 

Failing Her Tests

 

She wanted me to be a man

I could be a man

I could be a damned good man

I could exemplify the best in men

But she wanted me to want to be a man

That was the one thing I couldn’t do

She set these tests, you see

She thought I didn’t really love her

Which says more about her than about me

And so she set snares

And I would see them

Sometimes consciously

Sometimes subconsciously

And I would fail them

Every one

And so, in the end

When I wasn’t a man

She could console herself

That I really didn’t love her

Because I failed the tests

The tests I had sabotaged

Because I didn’t want to have to prove

I loved her