Where can "Shorty" be? / Exposé No. 2

Elizabeth "Shorty" Fensterbau, who at 16, used me

as an early experimental barometer (with my acquiescence)

scooted from my father’s used Pontiac Chieftain, leaving the quick

scent of "Topaze" in her wake along with her underpants.

––I wasn’t confronted with the goods presented in evidence

until the next day when the oldman had his Pontiac washed

and vacuumed at

“Theo’s Shell Station” on the corner

of Bedford and Oak Grove Avenue.

A full-service provider.

I was barely a car driver at the time, but fully engaged

in searching for examples to the secret meaning of things.

 

What next?

––Maybe a romanticized recounting of a glassy-eyed Fensterbau

gazing into the firmament of the Pontiac’s fuzzy headliner.

––There’s more to be said of this sweltering beginning of young romance

on the run, a monumental event which isn’t as cut and dry as it might seem.

                                                 -O-

––“The secret meaning of things” is nabbed from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s

volume of the same name.

––“Where can "Shorty" be”? is a paraphrase from Pablo Neruda’s

searing, unrequited love poem to“Guillermina” in the volume: “Extravagaria”.

––"What next?" is gathered from the title of Elliott Carter's brainy one act opera.

Notation:

I'm not ethically obliged to acknowledge "What next?"–– because it's a phrase

common enough without having to give credit to someone a lot smarter'n me

using it for the title of his opera,–– but as evidenced herein, I'll drop a name whenever

and wherever I have the opportunity to do so.