by Deborah Bacharach

—a duplex after Jericho Brown

Girls get one thousand a day. The extras,
like him, get a hamburger with fries.

He’s like a juicy hamburger with fries
without the courage to ask for a dance.

Without the courage to ask for a dance,
The Wall Street Journal says men don’t marry.

The old Journal runs the pro/cons of marry
for men against just getting the sex for free.

Men against just giving sex for free
ask for the basic beat they’re supposed to know.

Ask for the basic beat you’re supposed to know.
Even Questlove, with his music certainty,

knows in the quest for certainty, love,
he’s no Prince, but he can delve down deep.

He’s no prince, but he can delve whale ear bone-deep,
give day girls his one thousand extra selves.

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Deborah Bacharach is the author of After I Stop Lying (Cherry Grove Collections, 2015). She recently received a Pushcart Prize Honorable Mention and has been published in journals such as Adroit, Poetry Ireland Review, Vallum, Cimarron Review, and Poet Lore among many others. She is an editor, teacher, and tutor in Seattle. Find out more at DeborahBacharach.com.