Читать книгу Come On In! - Charles Bukowski - Страница 14

we are in the clubhouse

3rd race, 83 degrees in June,

they have just sent in a 40-to-1 shot

in a maiden race,

the tote has clicked 3 or 4 times,

the old general feeling of futility

has arrived early

and then a girl walks by

to the window to make a bet

her skirt is slit

almost to the waist

and as she walks

this

most beautiful leg

is exposed

it sneaks out as she walks

flashes and vanishes.

every male in the clubhouse

watches that leg.

the girl is with a woman

who looks like her mother

and her mother keeps close

to the side of the skirt

that is slit,

trying to block our view.

the girl makes her bet

turns and now the leg is on

the other side

along with her mother.

the girl disappears down an

aisle to her seat

as all around us

there is a rising,

silent applause.

then the applause stops

and like forsaken children

we go back to our

Racing Forms.