Syd Westley

there was money and thinness

and power and a manicured

lawn and a wrinkle free

face and children that went

to ivies and a toned bicep

and children who were good

at sports and yachts and a

pool and a tesla and a second

home and the women were okay

giving up their careers because

it was worth it to be with their

children or conversely it wasn’t

worth it and they had children

anyway hoping the dilemma would

somehow resolve itself which

maybe it would have if the

conditions were different

there was financial stability

which seemed confusingly

ever precipitous there were

men and marriages and

pride and expectations

there was the institution

of heterosexuality and the

lure of upwards mobility

there was time to pursue

artistic inclinations or fitness

there was pleasure and

festivity and proximity

to fame and all of it

could be gone in an instant

which we were reminded of

again and again because of

the incessant gossip which

somehow made everything

all the more urgent despite

the news which was only urgent

insofar as it was a means

to understand social compatibility

there were beautiful clothes

and the particular ways they should

drape on the body