You approached me with a thumbs upand well-planned scam to sabotage my heart.That's how it can happen in a saloon, and itdid four and a half years ago. I sat at a slotmachine in the corner, hit three red sevens, and turned toward the bar. You left your seatand came to stand beside me as if to encouragemy next win. You had a Madonna-like faceand green eyes that could spot an easy mark.In a weak and generous moment I handed youmy winnings, and we slept together that night.I knew that wasn't the way to love somebody, but I didn't know yet that you were a userin all senses of the word.

R. Nikolas Macioci earned a PhD from The Ohio State University, and for thirty years taught for the Columbus City Schools. In addition to English, he taught Drama and developed a Writers Seminar for select students. OCTELA, the Ohio Council of Teachers of English, named Nik Macioci the best secondary English teacher in the state of Ohio. Nik is the author of two chapbooks: Cafes of Childhood and Greatest Hits, as well as four books: Why Dance, Necessary Windows, Cafes of Childhood (the original chapbook with additional poems), and Mother Goosed. Critics and judges called Cafes of Childhood a "beautifully harrowing account of child abuse," but not "sentimental" or "self-pitying," an "amazing book," and "a single unified whole." Cafes of Childhood was submitted for the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. In addition, more than two hundred of his poems have been published here and abroad in magazines and journals, including The SOCIETY OF CLASSICAL POETS Journal, Chiron, Clark Street Review, and Blue Unicorn.