why am I sitting next to Rhett Wamsley
at a wedding on Martha’s Vineyard?
I don’t know whether this patrician with an attitude
is a friend of the bride or groom
but he is no friend of mine.

the chosen one tells our table that his forbearers
came to America on the Mayflower
an admission that he is a
descendant of a long line of criminals:
the first collection of human garbage from England that :
committed genocide against Native Americans
despoiled the land;
hung out with Rev. Cotton Mather who was
moved by God’s spirit to have sex with twelve year old girls;
and, were against bearbaiting not because it was cruel
to the bears but because it gave pleasure to the Puritans.

Rhett Wamsley puffs that he summered near the Kennedy compound
a family that lacks the right stuff
and now lives in Chappaqua near Bill and Hillary Clinton
a Little Rock family that lacks the right upbringing.

growing up in the city near the docks
I never summered at Martha’s Vineyard
but I learned at an early age to know an asshole when I see one.

Rhett Wamsley was a champion swimmer at Harvard University
but I don’t think he ever swam drunk in competition
so I eagerly pick up his challenge to race one hundred meters
in the tradition of the midnight swim of Ted Kennedy.

Rhett Wamsley guzzles one more drink down before the race
like his forefuckers did before torching an Indian village
“Life’s a beach,” he toasts the bride and groom
“I’ll drink to that witty toast,” I say
“Then let’s swim.”

Rhett Wamsley says he must first dance
to Wilson Pickett’s “Wait till the Midnight Hour”
proving by his contorted moves that the heirs of the first settlers
can steal land from Native Americans
and enslave Blacks
but will never learn how to shake their white asses.

Rhett Wamsley pulls me aside and says there will be
no midnight swim because his family
must catch the last Ferry to the mainland.

the groom comes over to where Rhett Wamsley
and I are standing.” I see you guys had a lot to
talk about tonight .We tried to put guests with common interests
at the same table.”

this upsets me more than all the rambling hatred I heard
from Rhett Wamsley.
I open the wedding card and remove a fifty.