If She Does Poem by Robert Rorabeck

We’ve got in pumpkins-
Entire bins of pumpkins- and my job today
Was to kill the ants,
And think of something:
And this really beautiful mother came in today-
She looked like someone’s sister.
She looked like she’d played soccer in high school.
Then a man came in with gold teeth,
And I think he made a comment about my face
Under his breath-
I shouldn’t like to think what he had to say,
But I know he was Italian and a painter
And from New York,
But definitely not an artist,
And I was glad when he went away,
And after he went away I thought again of myself as
An artist
Who must try and look at his face from the sunburned
Shadows from the best possible angles
And try to make the best of it,
And be happy that that beautiful young mother came in
And asked my name,
And said that she would be back to buy a Christmas tree.
If she comes, then I’ll have to find out her name,
And see if she doesn’t want to ride bicycles near the sea:
If she does it will be the first time I’ve been with a woman
In seven years,
And the very first time I’ve been with a beautiful woman
Not counting a couple prostitutes
If she does.