B.Z. Niditch- Two Poems

EARTH ANGEL

We  slow danced

to the Penguins

"Earth Angel"

smothered by

my first love

lowering our voices

and eyes,

we realize

that young crushes

rarely go anywhere

except in blushes

or in the bushes

and Linda

called me her Prince

and I composed

lyrics to her

as my teen lover

she eventually moved

out West

and a Hollywood star

and years later

when I worked

on film scripts

as a summer job

for my uncle

we recognized each other

at a party

on Fairfax Avenue

in West Los Angeles

at a when we were 

both tranquilized

by all the guitar glitter

and rock energy

when the crowd

became so loud

in glamour and clamor,

we walked outside,

and I sang to her

from "Earth Angel"

and asked her

to be my bride.

ON SHEPARD STREET

  

On Shepard Street

in Harvard Square

where we shopped

as runaways

for wine and cheese

when on sale

these poets came

to this apartment

we were told

by neighbors

to share their stuff

Aiken, Eliot, Lowell

and after that

Plath ,Sextant, Bishop

it was rough to stay up

even in the chatter

but there was always laughter

in the highway

by our small studio flat

there was vocal jazz 

they called scat

in improvisation

here where I was at

as a young Beat

but when you 

are young and in love

does it matter 

when there is little to eat

I asked my friends

for a welcome mat

and a next door neighbor

who did psychic readings

came through for us

though the prophecies

in the parlor never came about.