The Grasshopper

It was getting more and more difficult to do the right thing

to be bonhomous

It was hard to say no to meeting him in the bathtub

she was tempted by the memory of 1943

the smell of his sweat mapping her forehead

and she was up at all hours of the night

looking for the photograph of them in the arboretum

laughing at themselves and what lay ahead

The thirst for water turned to scotch

which turned to bourbon

which turned to her climb

to the top of the stairs

to the top of the skyscraper

In search of the fact that attention must be paid

and so--

the flashbulb of tainted immortality