Everyone should sparkle. I’m just not
as bright as my teeth anymore.

It’s late and I feel like a great big fish
in a jar, but a woman never admits
it took hours to get this way.

I used to meet nice guys, gentle
and perspiring. Now they’re a bunch
of striped suits.

They say diamond, I say tomato.
Go look for my panties in the icebox
and see if I’m there.

Boo boo bee doo. I may get
the fuzzy end of the lollipop
but I still have my ukulele.
I call this song You Look Married.

Is it late where you are?
Which time zone is starboard
and which is port?

I want the sun to rise like a neon yacht
while I drift on Rachmaninoff.

I don’t know if I’ll remember
telling you these things, but whenever
someone says happy
I say I’ll have a glass of that.

Come see Laura Spagnoli read with Jenn McCreary, Jason Baldinger, and Jerome Crooks this Friday, April 27th, at 6:45PM, at Higher Grounds Cafe, 631 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia, hosted by Paul Siegell.

Original appearance in the Philadelphia Inquirer.