The Silk Nightie
The sales associate at Victoria’s Secret is all smiles
I ask her the guy question I’m not sure about the size
She gives my aged lines that “so you got yourself a trophy” look and says
Give me an idea about her frame
I say About the same as you, kinda slim, tall…
Then she surprises me This for the wife? No, a girl friend
Now a gossipy gleam in her eye
Oh, about how old is she?
I say firmly She’s 68.
Now, she glows, I’ve just become a geezer sweetheart
She flips to a caring mode
Maybe, you want something more subtle?
Oh great! Back to married nights and birth control jammies
Oh no, I’m sorry…I’m so sorry I just thought you might go for something quieter
Yeah, I say We do try to have old fogey sex…nice and quiet
God forbid a yell, a deep moan, a screech - wake the neighbors
She says Well, sorry again just trying to be helpful
I say There’s more to look forward to than you believe
Frank
The science teachers party at your home and I meet George - your friend
I begin to wonder, Frank - you may be one of the guys I joked about
Subject of endless ridicule - homo, queer, fag…
But you were my chair and I needed the job
Then the morning we found my classroom door broken
Blood stained…lab scales gone
The superintendent of schools calls you to his office
The same guy who says to his teachers on opening day 1969
You folk in nigger heaven back there
Come on down to the front seats
And Frank I see you after that meeting
Looking so troubled and pale - holding a tiny book
Poems of Emily Dickinson and I say
Is she any good? and you said
At this time she’s very good
Easy to guess what the boss said, A fag like you…
And I could see your life in compartments
As mine - pretending an interest in Chemistry
And the easy world of sexuality I grew into
Us and those others - the gay guys - never to meet
But you’re my boss and as nice as could be
I think of a dinner party - three long married couples
As we leave I move to shake my friend Paddy’s hand
I move too close and stop -yes, I only shook his hand
But know inside… a kiss
Greg Moglia's work has appeared in over 300 journals in the U.S., Canada, England, India, Australia, Sweden,Austria and Belgium.as well as five anthologies. Among the journals - Peregrine, Southern Humanities Review, English Journal, South Carolina Review, Tampa Review, Wisconsin Review.