the lisp
had her for 3 units
and at mid-term
she’d read off how many assignments
stories
had been turned in:
Gilbert: 2...
Ginsing: 5...
McNulty: 4...
Frijoles: none...
Lansford: 2...
Bukowski: 38...”
the class laughed
and she lisped
that not only did Bukowski
write many stories
but that they were all of
high quality.
she flashed her golden legs
in 1940 and there was something
sexy about her lisp
sexy as a hornet
as a rattler
that lisp.
and she lisped to me
after class
that I should go to
war,
that I would make a
very good sailor,
and she told me about how
she took my stories home
and read them to her husband
and how they both laughed,
and I told her, “o.k., Mrs. Anderson.”
and I’d walk out on the campus
where almost every guy had a
girl.
didn’t become a sailor,
Mrs. Anderson, I’m not crazy
about the ocean
and I didn’t like war
even when it was the popular
thing to
do.
but here’s another completed assignment
for you
those golden legs
that lisp
still has me typing
love songs.
Other works by Charles Bukowski...
