505. AND SO THEY TOLD ME

AND SO THEY TOLD ME
(At the Bowery Beer Garden, 1968)
Richly attired, like gentlemen in rags would be,
regency and chivalry and royalty all mixed together
(in a mad-man's idle dream), they stepped forward
and - as one - together all fell down the steps.
Yes, yes, a laughing roar ensued. The crowd was
wild with itself - engorging sacred beers and
clapping in a trance : something horrid and as
horse-whipped as a dance by some leprous
dope. Candles flickered from the so-active
air. All the idiot voices and hands a'fire.
-
Someone stepped forward to calm down
the crowd: 'And now ladies and germs,
the moment you've not been waiting
for! Matilda Malloy and her Far-East
Snakedance' (His words, exact). She
stepped out - some not-so-glamorous
specimen of lust. A few rags, a sheer
garment, and the rest taken on trust.
-
Oh how the selfsame hammer blew!
Oh how the skinny dance happened!
Un-clothed in as an instant and as
un-apprehensive as could be.
'She is naked, my friends!!
For you and for me!'
-
And the stupid crowd
roared, all over again.