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Once monthly, the New York City Writing Project celebrates the teacher-as-writer by publishing works of poetry and prose written by its teachers. If you are interested in submitting your work to NYCWP Voices, please read the submissions guidelines and submit your work by email to voices@nycwritingproject.org.
Stockings
– Richard Ploetz
“. . . he’s shy, kind of nice . . .
We exchanged phone numbers . . .
He gave me a present,
A pair of stockings.
Why would he think I’d want . . . The kind you’d
Hold up with a garter belt. Yes.
Why would he think . . . Yes, I
Gave them back. Did he think I’d
Wear them? For him. No, I
Gave them back. Why do you
Think I’d want these?
Do you know what he
Said? He’d exchange them.
He could get me a red pair. Who
Does he think . . . Red? I don’t know
If they were the correct size, I
Didn’t . . . No, thank you, I said.
A pair of stockings, he doesn’t
Even know me. No, I said, don’t
Call me. Really, why would I . . .
The embarrassing thing is . . . we
See each other every day.
We work together. He’s, he is,
he’s kind of nice, but . . . stockings?”
RICHARD PLOETZ, Playwright, has had plays produced in New York City at the WPA Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Theater Genesis, LaMaMa ETC, Ensemble Studio theater, Emerging Artists Theater, Theater for the New City (Deceit 2013, Versailles 2014, Old Flame 2015) and the Kraine Theater. He studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and received an MFA in Fiction from Columbia. Richard teaches composition and playwriting at NYU. He is a long term member of the faculty at Lehman College in the adult degree program. Richard is a member of Emerging Artists Theater and the Dramatists Guild. www.RichardPloetz.com
