Do you want to know what went on there, in the elegant house where I served as a maid?…
Nothing much, really…
no witness (angel or otherwise)
No spanking the maid under cover of clover, Mr. Coover
It’ll all be just na’kid teamwork couple of
marvel Euro’s on tricky spellings
Elegant mid-stylist (Márai) to post-stylin’ van (Marías)
Voiceless or no (appropriate is
as appropriate does)
Let’s hope their nth degree is not Angel’s number
For sure, your breeder’s back
… to the door
Head flick just a kiss a’day
(kiss a’day, kiss a’day, kiss a’…)
But don’ get all numerol•icky or slappy, schmo
Thirty-nine shades of deep flight noise
… make a dozen
behind which door… No. 17? ¹
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¹Robert Coover’s (see earlier) novel, Spanking the Maid; 39 shades again: 3 + 9 = 12 (hoho); exceptional writing lives, tragic endings: Márai, depression & shotgun to the head; Marías, covid
(opening lines trans, George Szirtes)