TOUGH CUSTOMERS
By Ken Siegelman, Brooklyn Poet Laureate

Introduction

From the vantage point of others, Brooklynites have been considered both
parochial and provincial. This poem is a rebuttal of sorts to such
allegations.

In those years
When the "D" train was the Brighton Beach line,
Sexy ladies were wrapped around whiskey bottles on station posters
and made Brooklynites smile and turn away
Wondering what marketeers and ad-men
Really thought of them...
The madness of Madison Avenue
Wasting time and money
As if they felt that Brooklynites
Would turn a trick so easily
Without sophisticated recognition of the price or consequence...
We were masters of the gimmick even then,
Long before we read about subliminal effects,
and no one I knew
Took a ride or made a bet
With someone they could see through so transparently -
And if they did
They played along for just as long
As they took some pleasure
In the one-up manship and cat and mouse
Of the childhood psyching out
theyâ?Td mastered in their early years
When their secret was the last move
In the smile they kept inside,
Before they walked away
To steal the punchline from the trickster...
And in those subway placards
Of new model cars
Women swooned about the hoods;
Suggestively stroking our imagined anticipations-
But we all really knew
That they were tightly wrapped in rollers
All day Saturday,
And remembered how they looked
Past noon on Sunday
Snoring on their pillows.