Lyn Lifshin The 2River View, 5.1 (Fall 2000)

The Mad Girl Didn't Think She Could Imagine a Dick for a Day

for weeks she'd been trying to imagine
the daughter she never had and this
seems totally unconnected though
maybe she thinks somehow they're

linked. Still, it seems a bit
absurd, nothing she would be into
but then it starts to grow on her
and she thinks of what it could

lead to, begins to swagger a
little, gets an attitude as she
starts to elbow through places she
wouldn't have entered. She doesn't

know it's a penis she feels
start to grow—it's like suddenly
carrying a loaded revolver, as if
she's got power, concealed, that no

one's on guard against, some
charm she can finger as she
moves through strangers, enters
vaults where jewels are locked,

emeralds, rubies, glittering, and she
knows with one move she could blast her
way in, open and just take the booty,
leave only a puff of white dust

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