LastWords
From the Files of Hal Sirowitz

Hoping She'll Take Off More of Her Clothes
My therapist said that he thinks it’s strange that when she and I make love she doesn’t take off all her clothes but leaves her underwear on. You’d think she’d be relaxed around me by now and let me see her naked. But I shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that she’s repressed. It might be as simple as she’s not able to handle the cold. It’s easier to fix that than getting her out of her repression. All I have to do is turn up the heat.
Back On The Farm
I grew up on a farm, she said.
I used to get up early to milk the cows.
When you squeeze my breasts
you remind me of that time.
But instead of it being a pleasant memory
you make me feel like I’m the cow.
from Before, During & After (Soft Skull Press, 2003)
Starting From The Bottom
My therapist said I can’t remove a woman’s blouse, then expect her to take off her pants herself. I have to take those off too. He can understand her putting her blouse back on because I was only doing the top half of the equation and leaving the bottom half for her to do. The next time I see her I should start by taking off her pants. When you’re experiencing difficulty it’s always helpful to approach the problem from a different direction.
The Caveman’s Approach
My therapist said a woman doesn’t go willingly to her own seduction. She has to be persuaded to go there. But if my plan is to have the woman seduce me, then I’m taking the easy way out. That has never been his style. He believes in women’s liberation. He prefers the caveman’s approach. You like a woman, then you hit her over the head with a stick. Not that he’d ever hit his wife over the head, but she he likes her to act like he did.
Contributor
Hal SirowitzHal Sirowitz is the Poet Laureate of Queens. In addition to his new book, Before, During & After, Soft Skull is also publishing his next book, Father Said. He is a recipient of a 2003 New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

Lyle Ashton Harris: Our first and last love
By Leah Triplett HarringtonAPRIL 2023 | ArtSeen
Lyle Ashton Harris: Our first and last love presents thirty-five years of the artists work, which often veers into collage, installation, and performance in an exhibition that is as much a cumulative self-portrait as it is something of a mid-career retrospective.

Arcmanoro Niles: You Know I used to Love You but Now I Dont Think I Can: There Aint No Right Way to Say Goodbye Again
By Tennae MakiDEC 22–JAN 23 | ArtSeen
Arcmanoro Niles begins each work of art with a problem he wants to solve. His skill as a painter is technical, his intention deeply personal. In his exhibition, You Know I Used to Love You but Now I Dont Think I Can: There Aint No Right Way to Say Goodbye Again, he presents his ongoing investigation into what might seem like a forgone question: how can one articulate feeling in place of meaning?
Brenda Goodman: Hop Skip JumpNew Work 2022
By Andrew L. SheaMARCH 2023 | ArtSeen
These paintings work not in the realm of intellect, but that of feeling. Goodmans is a formalism that is never escapist or hermetic, but instead tied to an encyclopedic spectrum of human emotions, including terror, despondency, anger, hope, joy, even love. As she prepares to enter her ninth decade, Goodman has once again come upon a new abstract language that, somehow, remains intimately in touch with those important realities.
To Gina With Love
By Sam KahnSEPT 2022 | Theater
Sam Kahn pens a love letter to playwright Gina Gionfriddo, charting her career, inner world of her plays, and the influence she had over his life and writing.