when I was mad in california
and had to have a woman at all costs
for who knows I was out of my mind utterly and completely
and I had this enormous lust and energy bursting through
so overpowering it flattened every social restraint
and therefore had to find a woman who could bear such a weight
and certainly without the delay of even an hour I found her
seated on the berkeley campus in curls eyes sparkling like the stars
we must go to bed now
not even a date first?
I understand but it has to be now
we went to bed that very first hour
I was like a man bleeding to death
dying from a wound, hemorrhaging and hemorrhaging
while suddenly out of my volcanic need it burst forth
and dazzled us both with its splendor
henceforth I walked the earth a different man
and she a different woman
for we had come to berkeley to be at the birth
of an assignation beyond the understanding of either of us
but definitive –

Bob Quatrone was host of 4 HORSE poets at Cornelia Street Café in New York City for many years. He has been in publications going back to Aquarian in 1980. Recent publications include NYC FROM THE INSIDE and The Unbearables.