Manhattan, 1990
School girls swayed by a diet
of Slim Fast and Tasti D-Lite
wine coolers, Marlboro lights
and one french fry at lunch
flamingo legs to attract shark boys
with low swung jeans and pagers
who spoke a Yo MTV Raps
Upper East Side patois
I wore a bright yellow J. Crew felt hat
to school one vacant afternoon
& David S. playfully grabbed
it off my head laughing with
my hat in his hands as he spit
into the hat then threw it
out of the yellow school bus window
somewhere onto Second Avenue
David’s hands reached across
the torn green vinyl bus seats
to grab my 13 year-old breasts
& whatever else was in arm’s reach
He went down the aisles
grabbing girls’ breasts
nipples, thighs, asses. He left
the shy ones alone
David was rich
and popular. We drank
vodka with him
at parties
L. was my best friend
She would flirt
and giggle when
David grabbed her
she said it made him grab
less and go away sooner
“Plus” she said, “I don’t want
them to not like me
I don’t want him to think I am
a bitch.”
David’s friend Sam, the one
with the freckles, and Alfred E. Newman ears
stood behind him. Sheepishly
his eyes apologized
for his friend, but he
did nothing to stop it
Natalya, the teenaged model with black Doc
Marten boots, torn knees in her jeans
always sat in the front seat
behind the bus driver listening
to her Sony Discman, long dirty blonde hair
flowing down her back, anorexic and above it all
Amanda Deutch was born and raised in New York City. Deutch’s poetry has been published in The New York Times, Oversound, The Rumpus, Cimarron Review, 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center, Denver Quarterly, and many other journals and magazines. She is the author of several poetry books, most recently, Bodega Night Pigeon Riot (above/ground press, 2020) and Surf Avenue and 29th Street Coney Island (Least Weasel Press, 2018).
House Journal 