Alphabet City

Old yellow wall phone in the kitchen
first time I smoked
a salt-water pool
she leans out the window
almost choked
smell of fries
rotary dial sound like roulette
her lashes caught fire
a dot on the water while we watched
hung clothes with it cradled at her neck
nothing like the first taste
salt and malt vinegar
assenting, rarely saying anything
Marlboro Reds
bus fumes at Port Authority
think it was Helen from next door
yellow stains
kissed her, the band shell
you too, love you
the next day I bummed another
dark ride, Palisades breezes
home

© Chagall 2014

You’ve been sick before, I’m sure it’s
reverb at the altar dark and wet
seat-backs forward and trays
saved stubs of theater
blue Delphinium, perennial flowering
times to change the gauze
resonance, the sound decays at a rate
though the bag doesn’t inflate, oxygen is
especially for photos, certain
blues on the high mountains of tropical
catheters sometimes
choir voices especially altos
not even peanuts any more
mason jars of buttons
like blue dolphins, the leaves deeply lobed
they say you’ll be coming
the large cathedrals even more so
prepare for landing
butterflies pinned
hold nectar on the upper blue petals
anybody know what happened to the lady in room
sonorous, like yelling in a hallway
tipped wings, praying inside the mask
see, there she is behind your dad’s
blue flowers, late spring to summer

© Chagall 2014

Nothing but blue
gorgeous body
the air is thin
I run my hands over
lined with trails
she resists for show
native poplars
the neck is what
eagles protect
the comforter down
look up
rhythmical
trails too narrow for two
I hold and then she
echoes

© Chagall 2014

Consecutive consequences
small graves for little
goes down smooth
roads least traveled
or so she says
I never saw the sign

I’m done with you
okay to park here after
splashed the puddle all
I think it’s the next day there
just prop it with the book
no, the other aesthetic
you mean epitaph?

rusty slogans
remember her debut
old pine scent
either way you slice it
I’ve absolutely seen it
a prayer a day keeps
to the core

she comes in colors
except the
one’s self
I’ve seen beyond
antiquity
early to bed and early

funny how time flies
they all smoked L&Ms
I don’t think the windows
that’s between you and me

Mediocrity’s overrated
the year of the dog again
the majority
blew off his hand
the new 40
a walk through the park maybe
ramen again
or maybe it wasn’t

Clean shaven
ashes, dust to
o’ what a beautiful
sayonara
dime store novels – you?
just flew too close to the flame
I’m glad you bring that up
come, sit

© Chagall 2014

Hasty to hesitate
decisions to remain on the fence
splinters reshape the course of things
picayune on the big picture
always the children
without them we’d ourselves be suckling
not enough antibody
doesn’t anti-matter
warm milk around the lips
dries like first grade glue on fingers
so fun to peel
collagen
the bells away, always the bells
inclinations we had about the hunches
in steep decline
regardless, joy finds towers
filled with carbines, carillon
ropes untangle, de-noose
Adam’s apples obstruct the view
to that other day when it whistled
always the whistles
if it’s 8 P.M. then it’s time
pull the string

© Chagall 2014