ON THE CUSP

Oh how I loathed
Kate Smith
with her black sequined dress
with what must have been 
a really tight girdle
underneath

SCREECHING
When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain
on our little TV 
every day at 4

and that diminutive version of me
seething
I was ready for some damn rock n roll
but we were right on the cusp
and it didn't exist yet

And Ma would say
(through an alcohol-induced haze)
that someday, son, you will see
that love is just the way she sings it
so when you find a girl
a really NICE girl
you will commit to her
(until she's a shrill and ill-tempered hag?)
and properly channel your lust
but only when she doesn't have a headache
are you getting all this, son?

And I told her Paulie had said that
there weren't any nice girls anymore
and that that was just an act
because they were horny too
and she said go to your room

But I didn't mind because
there were some magazines 
stashed away there
that seemed to show that Paulie 
had a pretty good idea
of  what he was talking about