THE JOCASTA COMPLEX

A sad Stan Laurel face--
A joke, a southern drawl
To hide the pain of being out of place.

And out of time again.
By life five decades past you've been beguiled.
You know the things my mother might have known--
Ramon Navarro, Coolidge, Al Capone--
The names that animate your conversation are common to old men.
And yet you're young enough to be my child.

You say your mother calls you Gracie Allen.
I've watched you play a femme role "just for fun."
You gentle, dear, and handsome tragic boy-man--
I wish you were my lover ... or my son.

I AM ANIMA

by Honora Finkelstein