Two Poems

First Timer

In Ty's we dissect the 1910
Fruitgum Company's sugary virtues,
thrive to "Bubblegum World."
A stranger comes up, says,

This is my first time
in a gay bar. Will you
be my boyfriend tonight?

We say no. He offers to buy drinks,
says he's from Brooklyn, is 32,
looks half drunk, half terrified,
mentions a mother-in-law, returns
to his stool. We remember
our first time walking in,
the world both upside down
and right side up.

Warning

A table away, I salt my burger.
They're almost screaming
about That Girl—how Marlo
Thomas was every man's dream,
and one guy, about fifty says,
I wanted to marry her, but
the other guy, about forty, says
you said you'd never get
married. Ha Ha Ha. Other
diners turn to look. I stuff fries
in my mouth, their howls
    a rubber
      raft floating down a rapids,
         they don't see a steep and rocky
             falls coming up
                 quick, that's when my waitress
                       Betty says look out as they slip
over the edge.

Kenneth Pobo has a new book of poems from WordTech Press called Glass Garden. In addition, his online chapbook, Crazy Cakes, can be accessed at http://scars.tv. His work appears or will appear online at Forpoetry.com, Loch Raven Review, Istanbul Literary Review, 2River View, and elsewhere. Catch Ken's radio show, "Obscure Oldies," on Saturdays from 6-8 p.m. EST at WDNR.com. You can reach him at: kgpobo@verizon.net.

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