Edward. D. Miller

The Wrinkles & The VIP Lounge

The Wrinkles

Tomorrow is Friday.

But so was yesterday.

I am afraid to check

but I know--

I am stuck in a loop

and there is no weekend in sight.

“The time is out of joint.”

Best to ride it out. What she said.

Why iron when the wrinkles

find their own steam?

And who cares now anyway?

The end is like totally nigh bro.

After a morning walk in the woods,

I contained less me.

Bits of my watery excess

turned to dew atop

the scrub pines and oak.

Remnants of self

were evidenced everywhere

and for a moment I was gloriously less.

By the time I reached the dune grass,

I was almost free.

Ah what a relief to lessen

the clamp of mind upon body.

But now, writing this,

I’ve come back in a big way

and it is beginning to hurt again.

Or maybe it tickles, I’m not quite sure.

A blob of eternity…or maybe not.

No one takes my funny.

But I’m happy to share this sad.

“I can’t go on. I’ll go on.”

Best to ride it out. What she said.

Who knew a pattern

could become a regime?

Who knew a wrinkle

was vulnerable to steam?

No matter the calendar,

I must walk in the woods ‘til morning

in hopes of locating

the whereabouts of a weekend.

The VIP Lounge

Before I started taking those meds

That everyone took back then

I used to practice my lines in lovers’ quarrels

That took place all over the Lower East Side

Sometimes passers-by became audiences

When they would pause to enjoy our spat

As if our dialogue was worthy of Albee

Dear reader

You may ask with whom I was arguing

The guy that I loved like no other

In large part because he tormented me perfectly

Then abandoned me

Taking my Gaultier coat

And my prescription drugs too

In other words every man I went out with from 1985 to 1995

And yes there were many

Well, enough to fill the dance floor of the Pyramid Club

Now when one of those charming men

Approaches me on the street

I wonder

Who is this deranged-looking senior citizen talking to me?

Yes I was a serial monogamist

Who believed that love was redemption

But even then I sometimes referred to Oliver as Diego

And Diego became superimposed upon Oskar

I was deluded enough

To believe that he was mine ‘til the day I died

But who exactly was he?

And really who was I?

Now I realize I was reeling

Because my friends were dying

And I assumed my draft number was next

Perhaps I should have been promiscuous

And had perfected my wide stance

In airport bathrooms like U.S Senators

Or frequented the bushes alongside scenic views along the highway

Maybe I could have been a regular at that after-hour sex club

In the old meat market

Frequented by taxicab drivers and cater-waiters and club kids

(Okay I did go there but I swear I was never a regular)

But instead I fell in love twelve times a year

Announcing it to all my friends who rolled their eyes

When I repeated that finally

I had found the One

When in fact

My run of luck was sluggish

And my delusions dilapidated

Dear reader

my waistline has expanded and my temples are gray now

I’m hairy everywhere I don’t it want to be

And it’s thinning and receding where it should be full and fat

I’m a “bear” by default and I hibernate most evenings

No more chic art openings and trendy dance clubs for me

Who cares?

I’m happily—and legally—married

To the most gorgeous guy in the entire world

He makes fun of me (I deserve it)

But really he treats me like a Prince

Even though I am a peasant from a Manhattan shtetl

Who married into outer borough aristocracy

After all those meaningless guest lists and drink tickets

I am lucky to live in our very own VIP lounge


Edward D. Miller has written two chapbooks of poetry, The Moment and the Sequence(2021) and The Rock in the Middle of the Road(2019). He is finishing a third book of poems. He is a professor at The College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Links to his creative nonfiction and poetry available online can be found at https://www.facebook.com/EdMPoetry. Born in Brooklyn, Miller lives now in the East Village with his husband and their Chihuahua.