BUFFALO GIRLS WON'T YOU COME OUT TONIGHT

by Arne Weingart

 

          Buffalo girls won’t you come out tonight,
          Come out tonight, come out tonight?
          Buffalo girls won’t you come out tonight
          And dance by the light of the moon?
                    – American minstrel song

 

I.

What
in point of objective
fact
do we intend
for the Buffalo girls
when and if
they come out
tonight and

why Buffalo
why not Syracuse
Schenectady Saratoga
Canadaigua
not to mention Ithaca
and Binghamton

and what sort
of dance
a kazotzka a gigue
the dirty monkey

is the moon full
I wonder
are there gauzy clouds
that hide it yet
reveal everything

like the bare backs
of the dancers
the girls
from Buffalo

 

II.

Buffalo girls
will you
sit on my face

 

III.

Are the Buffalo girls
in high school have they
already completed their freshman
year at SUNY are they on summer
break and living at home
until they can leave
for their big internship in the city
and are kind of pissed about it
did they ever take
dancing lessons

 

IV.

Buffalo girls
I think I love you

but I want to know
for sure

 

V.

Buffalo girls
what do you think about
when you dance
do you see colors
each step a different
shade does the music
enter you like a ghost
and move your limbs
like a doll are you
in complete control
is there a way to finally
get out of Buffalo
its lonely smokestacks
illuminated by your hands
your feet your hair
by the moon

 

 

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