Louie Crew TWO BY CREW

THIS STRAIT MAN

Crosses his legs
at 90 degrees.
Begs
his woman, but
cannot please.

Slaps.  Sput-

tters.  Shouts.

Buys a beer.

Taunts a queer.

Chews his nails.

Pouts.

Rails.

Rules?

ANCIENT HAIRPINS

Honey, I know what I saw and heard
and I swear the three fancy foreigners
spoke of a baby Jewish “king”
kept in a stable by peasants.

I was in my Yiddish drag cruising
a dishy census-taker at the inn
when I overheard them saying
this little baby would bring
“salvation” even to us Romans.

Someone had better tell Herod
there’s going to be trouble.

Louie Crew, 74, an Alabama native, is an emeritus professor at Rutgers.  He lives in East Orange, NJ, with Ernest Clay, his husband of 37 years.  As of today,  editors have published 2,134 of Crew’s poems and essays. Crew has edited special issues of College English and Margins. He has written four poetry volumes Sunspots (Lotus Press, Detroit, 1976), Midnight Lessons (Samisdat, 1987), Lutibelle’s Pew (Dragon Disks, 1990), and Queers! for Christ’s Sake! (Dragon Disks, 2003).

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Crew.   The University of Michigan collects Crew’s papers.  Reach him by email at lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu