I’ve seen you watching them undress the mannequins
in the department store windows, late at night
waiting by the bus stop, long after
the last conductor has climbed into bed.
I’ve seen you with the little blond girls
in the park, luring them
onto your lap, pretending to be blind
brushing their soft skin and hair
with your wrinkled sticky fingers
whispering the same words you mouth
through the glass at the pretty dolls smiling
at your open trench coat, the last conductor’s wife
climaxing alone in the shower, in the back
of your head, just before you
pull up your shorts and start the long trip
home.
Holly Day has taught writing classes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since 2000. Her poetry has recently appeared in Big Muddy, The Cape Rock, New Ohio Review, and Gargoyle, and her published books include Walking Twin Cities, Music Theory for Dummies, and Ugly Girl. She has been a featured presenter at Write On, Door County (WI), Northwoods Writer’s Festival (CA), and the Spirit Lake Poetry Series (MN). Her newest poetry collections, A Perfect Day for Semaphore (Finishing Line Press) and The Yellow Dot of a Daisy (Alien Buddha Press), will be out late 2018.