Saginaw

I have to say, we laughed hard
at the no pants romance stories
after Christmas dinner, the fire
roaring and Dick there with his
wooly layers. We just started
up about the no pants romance
and kept going. Now each of us
calls the other and asks
How'd we get started on that?

I think it was with the bright
idea I had at three in the afternoon
about a week before when I called
up Dick and said, what are you doing
for Christmas dinner and he told me
he'd be washing his socks. I was per-
plexed that a famous poet
would be washing his socks on Christmas
and anyway, delighted because
I wanted to invite my old friend
over for dinner. So that's the story
of the no pants romance
and you'd have to be there
to understand, you'd have to be
one of us or interested
in pants, in socks, in the hard
won loneliness of old poets.