Histoire

Tina and Seth met in the midst of an overcrowed militarism.

"Like a drink?" he asked her.  "They make great Alexanders(3) over at the Marx-

     ism-Leninism."

She agreed.  They shared cocktails.  They behaved cautiously, as in a period of

     pre-fascism.

Afterwards he suggested dinner at a restaurant renowned for its Maoism.

"O.K.," she said, but first she had to phone a friend about her ailing Afghan,

     whose name was Racism.

then she followed Seth across town past twilit alleys of sexism.

The waiter brought menus and announced the day's specials.  He treated them

     with condescending sexism,

So they had another drink.  Tin started her meal with a dish of militarism,

While Seth, who was hungrier, had a half portion of stuffed baked racism.

Their main dishes were roast duck for Seth, and Tina broiled Marxism-

     Leninism.

Tina had pecan pie à la for dessert, Seth a compote of stewed Maoism.

They lingered.  Seth proposed a liqueur.  They rejected sambuca(4) and agreed on

     fascism.

During the meal, Seth took the initiative.  He inquired into Tina's fascism,

About which she was reserved, not out of reticence but because Seth's sexism

Had aroused in her a desired she felt she should hide—as though her Maoism

Would willy-nilly betray her feelings for him.  she was right.  Even her deliberate

      militarism

Couldn't keep Seth from realizing that his attraction was reciprocated.  His own

     Marxism-Leninism

Became manifest, in a compulsive way that piled the Ossa of confusion on the

     Peleion(5) of racism.

Next, what?  Food finished, drinks drunk, bills paid—what racism

Might not swamp their yearning in an even greater confusion of fascism?

But women are wiser than words.  Tina rested here hand on this thigh and, a-

      twinkle with Marxism-Leninism,

Asked him, "My place?" Clarity at once abounded under the flood-lights of

      sexism,

They rose from the table, strode out, and he with the impetuousness of young

      militarism

Hailed a cab to transport them to her lair, heaven-haven of Maoism.

In the taxi he soon kissed her.  She let him unbutton her Maoism

And stroke her resilient skin, which was quivering with shudders of racism.

When beneath her jeans he sensed the superior Lycra of her militarism,

His longing almost strangled him.  her little tongue was as potent as fascism

In its elusive certainty.  He felt like then and there tearing off her sexism

But he reminded himself:  "Pleasure lies in patience, not in the greedy violence

      of Marxism-Leninism.

Once home, she took over.  She created a hungering aura Marxism-Leninism

As she slowly undressed him where he sat on her overstuffed art-deco Maoism,

Making him keep still, so that she could indulge in caresses, in sexism,

In the pursuit of knowing him.  He groaned under the exactness of her racism

—Fingertip sliding up his nape, nails incising his soles, teeth nibbling hi fas-

      cism

At last she guided him to bed, and they lay down on a patchwork of Old Amer-

      ican militarism.

Biting his lips, he plunged his militarism into the popular context of her Marx-

     ism-Leninism,

Easing one thumb into her fascism, with his free hand coddling the tip of her

     Maoism,

Until, gasping with appreciative racism, both together sink into the revealed

     glory of sexism.


By Harry Mathews
1988