For Miss Hannigan

Who brought home strays or suitors.
           That cunning one in red, the one with curls.

A bath, a flash-lit round to check the girls.
           Most nights you found yourself alone with a drink.

Ever had a night like this? I think
           into a coy seduction game. But who?

Offer out your elbow, begin your swoon.
           Eat whipped cream & ices in a daze.

Boys in bowler hats, in crooked ways.
           You went on lavish car rides with chumps.

You closed your eyes, you gussied up
           around the tub & smuggled bottles of gin.

Nighttime jazz. Damn sure there was a ring.
           Preened & purred, your radio keenly tuned.

Ringlets nibbled down your neck as you
           languished on your tousled feather bed.

And no one cared a smidge for you back then.
And no one cared a smidge for you back then,

           as you languished on your tousled feather bed.
Ringlets nibbled down your neck as you

           preened & purred, your radio keenly tuned
to nighttime jazz. Damn sure there was a ring

           around the tub & smuggled bottles of gin.
You closed your eyes, you gussied up

           and went on lavish car rides with chumps;
boys in bowler hats, their crooked ways.

           You’d eat whipped cream & ices in a daze.
Offer out your elbow, begin your swoon

           into a coy seduction game, but who
ever had a night like this? I think

           most nights you found yourself alone. A drink,
a flashlit-round to check the girls.

           That cunning one in red, the one with curls
who brought home strays or suitors.