Now, Nothing is Taboo

After our headbangers ball, we slept well and woke late Wednesday morning. We watched Portugal lose to France then hopped in the car for a five-hour road trip to New York. My friends drove me to a subway station in Brooklyn. “Yes! Let me loose in the city!” I sang as I jumped out of the car. My comment made Mrs. Blackbottom shutter with mild concern. On the subway ride to Penn Station, I read Yusef Komunyakaa’s Talking Dirty to the Gods. I LOVED this book and have read it three times over since! Poems like “Spirit Traps,” “The God of Broken Things,” “Sex Toys,” and “Genet,” jazzed me up, psyched me up; I was feeling a mysterious balm in my gut. I repeated the poems, memorized two on my way out to Little Silver, New Jersey. I nearly missed the stop getting too day-dreamy, thinking I had promiscuous wings and the world was nothing but light and sap, and I was approached by the beggar with the erect penis who said, “Yes, they say if you shave a monkey / you’ll find a pragmatist, the president.”

I had parted from the Blackbottoms, and now I was staying at what is known to my friends as Raisincrest. My hosts for the next three days would be Dr. and Mrs. Raisin and their daughter Woogie Raisin (also nothing but stage names. See why it’s better to write fiction!). On Thursday we went to a grocery store and picked up more food; another party would begin on July 6. This time we’d be celebrating my husband’s birthday. We’d need to prepare more food!

My writing buddy and I are both Libras. She follows astrology more closely than I do, and she tells me that Libras tend to enjoy indulging in pleasure. Thus one of the challenges Libras face is curbing their tendency to indulge. In my case, I would say that indulgence and pleasure go so far as to seek me out. On most days, I have no intention to indulge, and yet an opportunity for pleasure simply arises. It’s one of those strengths I have been unable to fit on my colorful résumé. Anyway, by Thursday I am nearly zonked out from over-indulgence. I appreciated the trip to the beach Friday morning with the Raisins. The Jersey shore is gorgeous this time of year. Ah, let me nap and dream of the beggar with the erect penis!