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Dodge County Fair, 1965
Peter Martin
It was at the Dodge County Fair
that I saw my first stripper.
I was fifteen
and stared at the wild woman
on the raised stage.
She seemed old to me
but in an intriguing way--
I wanted to give myself
to her, have her
teach me of her wiles
touch me as I had never
been touched.
She shot ping-pong balls
at us from her vagina.
How could this be?
I was fifteen--I didn’t know
such things happened
in the world.
The boys around me on the
front benches jumped
for the ping-pong balls
she popped our way,
catching and smelling each one
with an exaggerated sniff
before throwing it back on stage
to be shot out again.
The night was exquisite,
the show a dream
come true
for a fifteen-year-old.
Boys brayed and howled
and stamped their feet,
falling backward from
the painted white benches
in mock faints.
We left the big canvas tent
changed that summer night.
Something had happened
and at fifteen
I knew it was something good.