flatterers

I. Parkinghouse

we dined by the barrel on the floor with the sawdust

you remember in the letter it said fluorescent light

we wanted something dimmer and we got it

that we all got Thursday I got a lemon in a used car lot

Friday we were in Rome till Tuesday and then it was Wednesday again

in the blue light of the evening night with stars and planets Thursday a.m.

by the alarm clock lying in bed you said I told you because she said

and we ate breakfast before the news was on and the paper arrived

II. Regency

we had the style all right let out the motor on the highway all the way

to the harbor restaurant there was Kitty and Herbert came along Fred and Cameron and Elsa and Tim

we said goodbye the intonation was rather flat I remember Happy Birthday or something

Gilbert & Sullivan we slept at the hotel at least a week it rained

III. fortitude

we had the lecture on cardinal virtues to be red fly and chirp you said

I thought that was witty as they say in poetry

that self-descriptive contemplative way like thumbscrews on the brain

there it’s done says the funeral director all screwed down

the life of nature all before the victim while it lasts

anything to take the fun out of it some people

IV. in fine casinos

we were wed and ordered antipasto salads just for two

and then we played for fortunes on the little green playing fields

where the whims of chance fall out and stand to

whilst the Empress inspects her guard and smartens it up

V. lying in wait

the beast of five fathoms had awaited us

or it had slunk to Jerusalem waiting to be born

whatever it was the praise the loved praise in the marketplace

isn’t mine and yours he’s praised a journalistic functionary once praised him

for something I cannot now recall but you know the critics

they’re all reformed writers who never got the hang of it

VI. the effervescence of it all escapes me now

the effervescence of it all escapes me now

motoring in my Treadway down the avenue

I married the sister of the daughter of the company

good match as these things go combustible you know

we eat up all the highways and byways high roads low roads

mountain passes and seaside routes bridges we especially favor day or night together

VII. thick as thieves

as we fascinate lovely people we have lots of press attention

we don’t mind just keep ourselves to ourselves

in streets and bungalows outdoors and indoors

the great world all very nice for some we should think

VIII. trio

down by the lake

down by the seaside down by the lake and the seaside

under the sun and the trees

by the shore of the sea and the lakeside

seashore all