Rosemary, you’re the only…

Rosemary, you’re the only kind waitress in this radical cooperative socially-woke vegan restaurant — all the other waitresses despise me because I’m the dishwasher

Rosemary, only you smile at me — all the other waitresses treat me like I’m salmonella — I thought I could scrub crud with pride here, but I was wrong — I’m in the grease pit of this phony utopia

Rosemary, you bring me half-eaten Ho Chi Minh hash browns to devour — you sneak me egalitarian waffles & Emma Goldman goulash — after work you tell me you wanna buy me a drink - so I follow you like a stray dog — you order Smirnoff because you want to support Soviets, like us

Rosemary, the longer I drink the longer your legs look — your eyes are as blue as the dish-washing detergent — your teeth are much whiter than the stained coffee cups

Rosemary — what’s this? you’re telling me your husband is a Republican? — he’s been impotent with you since the last election? — now he’s having an affair with Sheena - his motivational coach?

Rosemary, you follow me now to my trailer by the train tracks — my bed is as frigid as a Siberian gulag — Rosemary, you beg me. “please talk like a Marxist” — I say, “Okay! I’m a Sandinista, Zapatista, Red Brigader — I shot the Czar, Che es mi amigo, Lumumba died in my arms”

Rosemary, your breast starts heaving like the collapse of the capitalist system — you embrace me passionately — United, like the Workers of the World - we tear off our clothes — you want me inside you, but — oh no! — I’m as limp as your Republican husband

Rosemary, you cry: “what do you need? I’ll do anything?” & I say, “Rosemary, I need a fantasy too — will you pretend to be my wealthy Grandmother? — tell me you’re giving me stocks, bonds & mutual funds? — tell me I’m going to inherit some money?”

Rosemary, you hiss, “that’s disgusting, that’s — bourgeoisie” & I say, “I know, but it will definitely work”

Rosemary, what an odd couple we were — I was your Trotsky, you were my Trust Fund — I promised the destruction of what you promised me

until we shuddered with our own revolution