the perfume of her hangs in the air
like an atmosphere promising thunderstorms
the window is cracked, letting november in
but her body beneath these blankets warms me
her hair in wet feathers, pressed to her head
the washed-out splendor of macy's day parade
glitter and tinsel are clogging the drains
causing a runoff that's flooding the city...

she gives me a red rhinestone ring
that fits only my thumb
and i wonder--
was it her ex-husband's, or father's,
or someone's cheap souvenir
from a somewhere he took her ?
i decide i won't be a gift-horse-mouth-looker
so i wear it for awhile
till' it gives me a rash
i am not sentimental
i toss it in the trash
cuz i don't care
if she likes me
or not
if she likes me
or not
i don't care if she likes me or not

she was marching in the macy's day parade
in a row of dancers decked out in the rain
women in heels executing military drills
goosestepping in lynchpin six-inch stilettos
towards central park
where the mud from its meadows
runs into the gutters
all glutted
with pink ostrich feather
the plumage that falls
from a macy's day dancer
answer me...
it's raining
crowds run for cover
shoving, complaining

streets full of women
that beg you to praise them all
lower their lashes
and then slowly raise them
they'll stare you down
and then turn away
but when they're hunting you
can't you hear their eyes say,
'do you like me
or not ?
do you like me
or not ?
hey...
do you like me or not ?'

camera crews leave with rain on their lenses
we leave with the first ones to befriend us
i followed the holes her heels left in the mud
while behind us the city was starting to flood
her hair in wet feathers
blue, blonde and red
the washed out splendor of macy's day parade
hair in wet feathers pressed to her head
the washed out splendor of the nest unmade
with sheets strewn over with sequins and trash
cast off by parades that have already passed
and i'm not the first
this role gets recast
the macy's day bird
calls out from her nest--
'do you like me ?...

hey--
do you like me
or not ?
hey--
do you like me
or not ?

hey--
do you like me ?'