Suzy Zeus Gets Organized by Maggie Robbins Page A

Christmas.
    Suzy took a Trailways bus.
    Locked herself inside the toilet.
    Thought about her brother Gus.
    Suzy sat there half an hour.
    Driver didn't make a fuss.
    Suzy's mom strung up the lightbulbs.
    Suzy's mom put out the crèche.
    Keith put Joseph humping Mary.
    Suzy's mom said Keith was fresh.
    Suzy's mom wants Christmas spirit.
    Suzy's dad just wants some flesh.
    Suzy's mom is always humming.
    Suzy's dad is always right.
    Suzy's mom is hard of hearing.
    Suzy's dad stayed out all night.
    Suzy's mom said not to worry.
    Suzy's mom said not to fight.
    Suzy Zeus threw up all morning,
    lay in bed with Ed, the dog,
    flipping through the late-November
    Neiman Marcus catalog.
    Liked the mango pedal pushers.
    Liked the big ceramic frog.
    Sally loves the sing-along they
    have at church on Christmas Eve.
    Suzy sat with Keith beside her,
    Sally with her husband, Steve.
    Gus will sit where Gus is put—just
    get him when it's time to leave.
    Suzy brought her mom a hot pad.
    Suzy bought her dad some booze.
    Gave her sister body lotion.
    Keith she gave a rack of cues.
    Keith gave her an ankle bracelet.
    Suzy didn't ask him whose.
    SUZY TAKES HER TIME
     
    Suzy lost her plastic change purse.
    Suzy lost at Truth or Dare.
    Suzy lost her job at Louie's.
    Suzy doesn't really care.
    Suzy wants to buy an ear cuff.
    Suzy wants to bleach her hair.
    Louie's Lone was not a picnic.
    Louie's laugh was very crude.
    Suzy never liked the people.
    Suzy never liked the food.
    Suzy wants to waitress mornings.
    Suzy wants to get tattooed.
    Louie never fixed the heating.
    Suzy never liked the cook.
    Never liked the vinyl seating,
    never liked the Wild West look.
    Had to watch policemen eating.
    Had no time to read a book.
    Harry says she needs the money.
    Harry—he can go to hell.
    Suzy tells him she can dig up
    rings and things that she can sell.
    Suzy's doing what she wants to.
    Doing nicely! Doing well.
    Harry's making vodka Jell-O.
    Suzy's got a jug of wine.
    Harry says she'll need the money.
    Harry wants to 69
    Suzy'd rather rent a thriller.
    Suzy Zeus is doing fine.
    SUZY REFUSES
     
    Suzy's breath is deep and hot. Her
    eyes are slits, her pupils specks.
    Suzy's shredding all his tapes, his
    shirts, the sheets where they had sex.
    Harry, "just to save some cash," is
    "etching" with his high school ex.
    Suzy Zeus told Harry never.
    Suzy Zeus told Harry no.
    Watched him phone to book a Honda,
    watched him pack, and watched him go.
    Suzy's full of ways she can
    surprise this highway Romeo.
    Harry said, a place to sleep in,
    Harry said, to break the trip.
    Harry said to stop her griping.
    Harry said to get a grip.
    Suzy makes it very messy
    when her boyfriends double dip.
    SUZY MOVES ON
     
    Suzy Zeus is catching fire.
    Suzy Zeus is catching rays.
    Suzy Nairs her legs and armpits.
    Suzy fasts and Suzy prays.
    Suzy wants a better boyfriend—
    one who's smarter, one who stays.
    One who listens, one who loves her,
    one who needs her, one who knocks.
    Not like Harry, banging in and
    tripping on his dirty socks.
    By the time he says he's sorry,
    Suzy will have changed the locks.
    Suzy's taking off her panties.
    Suzy's taking off some weight.
    Suzy's putting on mascara.
    Suzy's going on a date.
    Suzy knows the girl for Harry
    is a girl he can inflate.
    SUZY MOURNS
     
    Suzy's happy! Suzy's swell! She's
    wise and pretty! Strong and free!
    Ready for the taste and smell of
    skin that sings and hands that see.
    Suzy wakes at five. Or four. It
    gives her extra energy.
    Harry wasn't much to lose—a
    skunk, a drunk, a blank, a bore.
    Suzy Zeus has gotten over
    tons of guys like him before!
    Suzy shows them what she's made of.
    Suzy shows them all the door.
    Suzy's been with lots of people.
    Suzy's had a lot of flings.
    Only Harry called her "girlfriend,"
    cared enough to clip her wings.
    Suzy doesn't think about it.
    When she does, it kind of stings.
    Suzy thinks of Bobby, Brandon,
    Chuckie, Stuckey, Burns, and Brad.
    Purlis, Joey, Jetson, Killer,
    Craig and