Liberace
count yourself lucky
that there was an elevator
that it smelled of cigars but not excrement
that the mice were few and the waterbugs small
that your skull missed the ceiling on the way up
when one neighbor’s son tossed you high
and another one snatched you on the way down
that the city park was your playground
where a little boy punched another girl’s eye
(not yours) and her screams filled your ears
that an arm
held your father in check
when he couldn’t take
any more of your crying
dangling you far out the window
five floors from the sidewalk
but
you only felt lucky that there was
a television
its magical vision of safety and wonder
in black-and-white
shimmering with dancers
with music to sway to
as you stretched out your hands
through the bars of your playpen
to a beautiful tuxedoed man in the box
piano and candles his name sounded
just like a smile
just like release
just like the word
you would someday embrace
liberation
• • •
Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware, as well as a widely published poet, and also the poetry editor of The Steinbeck Review, a publication of Pennsylvania State University Press.