angels sing to me

was in the tub this afternoon
shaky
depressed
when the phone rings
and it's this girl I dated from
Chicago who used to sing
folk songs;
she's been keeping up
with my writing and
she's quit her new man,
she threw all his clothes out,
she tells me.
I tell her how those things work-
you're together then split
together then split
over and over
again.
yeh, she says, wanna hear my new
song? sure, I say, and she sings to me
over the phone.
now I'm sitting at the
edge of the tub
naked, wet,
listening, thinking, damn
she's gotten pretty damn good!
and I laugh, the song is funny,
and I say I like it, and she says,
I'm glad.
and I say, look, I've got to
get ready and meet up with my
ex Rachel. keep in
touch.
I will, she says.
and then I saw Rachel.

when I got home,
I picked up the phone to call her,
then gently put it back
down.
she doesn't want to hear about Rachel.

I turned on an old Jazz record and
started listening to the sounds.
stone cold crazy
once again.

I don't know how they find me...