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My Prom Tuxedo (1974)

A true testimonial to better living through chemistry,
there wasn’t a single ounce of it made from a fabric found in nature;
but the lapels were wide enough for the brightest boutonnière,
and the cuffs were belled enough to handle my best platform shoes.
Maury at the rental shop said that it was next to impossible to wrinkle,
even when my date had my trousers down around my ankles in the backseat
of my father’s ’71 In-Violet Plymouth Barracuda with the 426 Hemi.
(the ultimate blowjob vehicle…thanks for the loan, dad)
But he warned
I needed to be careful around an open flame,
because even though it wouldn’t necessarily catch fire,
it most likely would melt.

By david smith

David Smith’s latest book, co-authored with Scott Wannberg, is Rocket’s Redglare: the Handsome Duke Deal and Kid Mingo Letters. He is also the author of Closer to Jesus. A limited edition broadside collaboration with visuals by S.A. Griffin of his poem, Genocide Sutra is out by Hanukah. You should buy two or three copies. His next book, White Time, will include the entire collection of the Hotel Malaria galleries. In the 1980’s he was publisher and editor of Ouija Madness Press and Ouija Madness Magazine. He is the ruggedly handsome half of the jazz combo with the immortal and tall S.A. Griffin on the go-man-go crazy strip tease that is Rose of Sharon Press. The best bartender you will ever know, he can pour a Singapore Sling that will make your mother weep with joy.