READ
Winter 2002.
Boys With Messy Cars...A Fine Lady Lunches One Year Later
by Mary Panza
UPDATE FEB 7, 2003: The New York Times recently found this page and poem online and asked Mary for her input for an article on messy cars. Read: "That Odor? That Stain? That's, Uh, My Car" by Janet Ruth Falon.
Now I know I am not invisible
There are boys with messy cars
They keep their dirty secrets under the front seat
Boys with messy cars smoke
Newports without coats in the freezing cold and claim they don't
Smoke
Chew gum
Bang
Set points just to see how far they can go without admitting to themselves that
They have not gone
Far
Enough
Drink strong black coffee
Eat sweets till all hours
Trying to feed the
Beast
The Beast wants pills and booze and a short Italian girl
Big hips and a foul mouth
And now I know I am not invisible
And I don't want to be hidden under the front seat of a messy car
The boy is old in years but not progress
I hide nothing
Because now I know
That I was never really
Invisible