THE DAY AFTER.

A YOUNG MAN AND THE OLDER WOMAN AND THE PROMISE OF SEX.

It was the day after
I’d been to London
on a protest march
and Netanya said

I want you
to come
to my place
this afternoon

as I want to talk to you
my husband will be out
I was hesitant
not out

of any moral quandary
or in case
her husband found out
or that her kids

might come home
from school early
but because
I usually liked

to chill out
in the afternoon's
with a glass of scotch
and listen to Mahler

but I said
ok what time?
any time after 1pm
he's gone by then

she said
so forsaking
my scotch and Mahler
I walked around

to her place
and she let me
into her lounge
and offered me

tea or coffee
I took the coffee
and we sat on her sofa
and she talked

and I listened
then she took hold
of my pecker
and said

we could have sex
no one is here
no one need know
my pecker woke

from its slumbers
reluctantly
and lay
like a grumpy sailor

after a long voyage
not just now
I said
it wouldn't be right

besides daylight
isn't my best time
she looked at me
with her disappointed eyes

her hand
still holding the pecker
why not?
she said

what if your old guy
comes in
and we're going it some?
he won't

he never
comes home early
too keen on the skirts
at work

what if your kids
come home from school
and find me and you
in the process?

we'll be done by then
she said
I shook my head
and she went

to the record player
and put on
a Dolly Parton LP
and sat beside me again

my pecker still lay
slumped unhappily
another time maybe?
she said

sure
I said
only not here
not in your house

or bed
it doesn't seem right
she pulled
a face of discontent

where then?
your place?
no way
my mother

wouldn't like it
I said
where then?
Netanya said

London?
I said
London?
she repeated

go to London for sex?
we can take in a show
and find a cheap hotel
and tell your old man

you're going to London
with a friend
to see some show
and it will give you cover

she sighed
and sipped her coffee
I sipped mine too and gazed
at this middle-aged lover.