With the top down she drove
slow as if to announce: “I’m
here in my frosted bee-hive
my polyester cheetah and
my neon pink Caddy.”
Is it true she collected bets
with a bookie once a priest and who
now called himself “The Apostle?”
True that in her bleached
Marilyn years she hung with
The Rat Pack in Vegas and stole
a glass eye from Sammy Davis?
Always a rosary around
the rear-view mirror along with
a black veil for you to wear
for a quick prayer in church
before playing some of the
ponies at the track
“Mother of God,” “God laughs
but we cry,” and “In God we
trust but to Aggie you pay,”
were some of her favorite
sayings
“Shaddup!” “Mercy!” and
“Forget about it already!”
–her favorite words
Slowly like an exotic critter you
thought was in your sights
not realizing how you were
already the creature
she has been stalking
Ken DiMaggio teaches Composition, Literature, and a seminar on Free Speech at Capital Community College in Hartford. He previously had a poem published in the 2022 Connecticut Literary Anthology. He will have poetry published in an upcoming issue of Fresh Ink, Illuminations, and Paterson Literary Review. Recently, he has discovered hockey as a good metaphor for writing. Hockey requires action, strategy, and courage to keep skating after an elusive puck that everyone else is trying to whack. (And just like a good idea or image, you may connect with the puck for a few seconds before it shoots off somewhere else.) His favorite hockey team is The Jersey Devils.
