A Leak In The Safe

(This a really old one and not really that good BUT I thought the estimable titular lady deserved to have something come up if you googled her name. Then as now the role of friend was played by Gregory D. Anthony.)

A Letter to Ms. Mary Helen Joyce (After the November 20th poetry reading by Howard Nemerov that she was unable to attend)

Dear Mary Helen
You would have liked Nemerov
I knew it from the first
When he came in
With his white basketball socks
And his funny book bag
And when he talked about his broken glasses
And said he was in a nasty mood
And admitted
In a exquisite off-hand way
That he really didn’t understand
More than we did
I turned to my friend and said
Mary Helen would have liked this