I really enjoyed this poem, Marilyn.  Well done.  I
like the long title.  The ending is brilliant
particularly because it gives an insight into a friend
and a relationship besides prolonging the poem further
into the reader's own speculations.I wonder if the
second line of the third stanza could be omitted or
modified to achieve perhaps a little more subtlety
there. Cheers, cara

--- Marilyn Injeyan <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >
When the Woman Who Reeked (and Needed
>          More Than One Chair), Sat Next to Me
>
>
>     I didn't say, excuse me, even when
>     her thigh grazed mine, because I didn't
>     want feelings hurt.
>         I didn't see those whiffs of sweat,
>     mustiness and landfill
>     infuse my lungs,
>     tried not to hear her fidget and slurp
>     dregs of iced coffee throughout.
>
>     I didn't stand up, just slid
>     inches to the right, listened to an author
>     who spoke on Keeping a Journal You Love.
>     I said I had her book, Writing Personal
>     Poetry, asked if she recorded dreams.
>
>     I saw four empty seats to the left -
>     a breath away from that sewer-like stench
>     beside me.  I waited until the speaker
>     was signing her latest, noticed a puddle
>     in the seat, where the polecat in chartreuse had
> sat.
>     I escaped the bookstore into sunlight's balm,
>     told this tale to a friend who mused,
>     "I wonder why God put that woman
>      in your life."
>
>                     Marilyn Injeyan
>                     August 13, 2001
>
>
>
>

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