29th
9-29
1
You are trying to tell me something
I am trying to listen
Over the screaming in my head
The voices say they don’t want to hear this
But I promise that my heart is open
Even if my ears are not
2
Fourth Street is awash
In dancers and balloons
And little children drowning
In pools of pink cotton
Here, the flamenco artist
Raises arms triumphantly
Over there, a petition to stop
The encroaching development
A white balloon breaks free
And floats heavenward
Past the red-brick tenement windows
Perhaps it knows
The time to go is now
3
The clock reads
00:00
Kick
Three points
Defeat
4
If imitation
were the sincerest form of flattery
Then the world’s currency
Would be compliments
Instead of cash
5
To the passerby
They are crazy secret recluses
Sending mad shivers down the spine
With the gargoyles and twisted visages
That adorn the million-dollar brownstone
They rarely leave
But to me
They are simply the neighbors
Who smile hello
When we meet in the night
6
If you knew,
As I know,
What it feels like
To have your body turn against you
Without warning
To have your eyes and limbs
Refuse to do what they ought
If you knew,
As I know,
What it is to wake up every morning
Wondering if today will be
A good or bad day
Then you would sleep in too.
7
I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth
And traded it all for a wooden cross
I was given every advantage
And never knew any loss
No one needs to tell me
The gift that I’ve been given
But someone should probably tell them
The future’s already been written
I do not belong to the place I came from
I am not the one they see in the frame
I am only that which has been reborn
I am only His by birth and name
8
Saturday night
Bar fight
Red light
Turns green
Holding hands
Making plans
Garbage cans
Picked clean
Subway stops
Ticking clock
Janitors mop
Downtown scene
Late bite
Hold tight
It’s alright
We’ve been
9
Long before I knew you
I knew who you would be
To me
If this is doing life
Then I am in it for a hundred years
And a millon tears
And smiles, too
I do
Do you?
10
Stomping and banging
Echo overhead
Don’t they know
I’m trying to go to bed?
