Roxie Does the Internet

Roxie Does the Internet

Roxie, stranded in Amishville,
which she now she refers to as
Amityville, in her darker moments,
felt lonely.

She had visited every internet site
she found interesting
at least a dozen times,
received a plethora of email
from people unknown,
peddling everything
from paintings to painkillers,
and she dabbled on the
poetry boards.

Phoebe was saying her first words,
"Da Da, Da Da" over and over again,
driving Roxie to the 151
proof Puerto Rican rum that
helped her wipe that word
from her thoughts
for a few hours.

One night, out of pure boredom,
she down loads something called
World's Chat from Japan
or someplace,
and is transported to an
orbital playground with
castles in the air, space walks
and hidden mystery rooms.

Aviators, with the faces and bodies
of their controllers choosing,
greeted her at every portal.
She became a blond with
long hair an a smile so enticing
it would blow Clinton back into
the secret places of the Oval Office.
She was a face only,
Roxie was not comfortable
with her body.

She met Jim, a 55 year old
computer tech from Reno.
Who graciously showed
her the ins and outs
of this new adventure.
She was 45 for Jim.

She met Aaron, a bike riding
basketball shooting,
soccer playing guy from
U-Mass who promised to use
her lyrics on his
first recording.

She chased a Bible holding
pilgrimage taking, converter,
who called himself Med
and would bait him
with little
messages saying, "I can never
be saved".
When she found out he lived
just outside of Pittsburgh she
threatened to pilgrimage
right to his front door
so he could thump God
back into her wicked soul.

One night she spotted an
aviator with the handle
"Looking for you" written
across it's chest,
so she messaged "Yes
you were, and there is
no need to look farther."

He was an Israeli biology student,
who spent his summers in the Army.
He spoke a more refined English than she
and they spent weeks upon weeks
learning of each other,
only Roxie became 22,
just a year younger than he.

She dug out her old photo albums
and sent him pictures of the her
she wished she was when they met.
He called her exquisite,
and she believed he thought she was.

He took her to Jerusalem, the West Bank,
the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv,
and showed her life in a kibbutz.
She learn he was not a believer of
Hebrew religion but would honor
it for his family.

He would pay her homage with beautifully
crafted poems, both his own,
and those of others he thought
she would enjoy.
For her birthday he sent
a video of himself singing
"Come on baby light my fire",
and professed his love.

He taught her, in the dark corners
of the web, how to find her sweet spot,
and for the first time in her life
Roxie learned to love her body,
and found it gave her pleasure.

Still, Roxie, would not
add a body to her aviator,
she knew once it had legs,
she would walk.

by Bobbie Kilzer Gogain