up to our ankles in crumbling cement we hid in
its stairwells to watch Louisa lift her skirt --
and we kept our solemn oath to wait until she
was gone before looking at the pictures she had
taken of herself with the town's first
Polaroid

on the grass, cheerleaders entangled their thighs
with football players and titillated themselves
with publicity

we were cowboys and indians on the steps -- the three
wise men on its Christmas stage     in the dust
behind its basement furnace i reached for rebecca