seated to my left
is a woman, who has taken off
her blouse on public transportation
seated next to her is an artist
I can tell that he is an artist
by the way he tries to convince himself
that sitting next to a woman
with her bare breast showing
does not excite him so he continues
to read from his trendy magazine
an article on famous left handed people
I want to tell the seen it all, done it all before artist
that I am from Chicago, the city of big shoulders
arctic cold winters and the Cabrini Green Projects
but I can tell from his arrogant smirk that he is appalled
by my mid-west ways, how disgusting, staring at a woman's
naked tits on public transportation
the woman is telling the reporters
why she will not put back on her black blouse
that there are men, with tits bigger than hers
who are walking around shirtless in the city of Manhattan
the art student is moved by the woman's protest
and he too starts denouncing everything from God
to Fashion Avenue for making uncomfortable womens clothing
footsteps of policemen can be heard above the fragile subway's
surface; of course they will have arrived much too late
to make an arrest, while the two protesters exchange into each
other's clothing and board an opposite train where they will
go to the woman's tiny Soho apartment and drink bottles
of cheap beer and admire each other's performance

-- by Marvin Tate