Shhh! I'm going to stop time sweetie! The pipes have been drained. The rain is no longer wet. The sky is green! Oh my! I think I just blued myself! These colors spinning, spinning. Tinted in mind. Don't go in there! The rooms are full of creatures, lurking behind that painted door! Hahaha, praise him! Praise the gorilla! Praise the zebra. Don't be stupid, unicorns don't exist. But impossible astronauts do! Hahaha praise him. Praise him.

in a room in Manhattan

up off 34th Street

writing away the desperation

and hustle I heard

from the window

I hardly used my radio

the sounds from down there

were plenty

the litanies of anger, hurry,

frustration, gridlock

and after the first week I started

wearing headphones when I wrote

but I was always aware

of the window

I was young and

I had never seen so many assholes

trying to be important

-walking quickly

black clothes

gripping briefcases

or paintings

or portfolios

or black umbrellas

I watched the urchins move

and I wanted to pick

them off

one by one

from the window

I didn’t work anywhere at the time

I didn’t want to

sometimes I would

take the train to Brooklyn

and walk around the Jews

and I would anger one here

and there

by asking where the nearest

bar was

or where I could score

a bag of

good shit

or where I could find

a cheap homosexual

or the nearest

strip club

the look of hatred satisfied me

and when I wasn’t doing

that

I would take a taxi around the

city for a few miles

and jump out and run

but the best was

when I would drive

my smoking engine

downtown in the traffic

doing 15 miles an hour

in the left lane, cutting off

taxi cabs and long

black limousines

and SUVs.

The truth was I hated New York City

that so-called energy

and lack of courtesy

of basic convenience

I pulled some alright

pages out of that place

Dostoevsky wrote that a city can be intentional

I felt

no intent from Manhattan

it didn’t have me trapped

there like so many others

and for that the city just gave me

a hard stare

it was tolerant

with me

it could not break me

because

I knew it was

only

joking.

the sort of turmoil

some may resist but

the persistent pulling

always wins

I have fallen in love

with every inch of your

skin and I have placed

my hand on your chest

I never shrunk from

the sound of your

breathing but the

rhythm of your heart

my soul was never casual

I have drowned a thousand

souls in the ocean of

everything I've ever known

I am not a challenge

to be taken lightly

sticky like honey I will

cling to your whole being

I have been driven away by

masquerades of people

with high expectations

who never really cared but

I have seen you watch me

and I've never felt so beautiful

as the moment I turned

towards the glow of your gaze

love is not something

which is easily dismantled

I've played that game before

and lost all except the third try

high bulbs and lightning bugs

both glow but neither is

a purposeful brilliance

you are accidentally lovely

I have buried my face

in your shoulder and sobbed

for all it was worth but I

never imagined this

midway heartbreak

you're perfect but I'm broken

at the thought I may not

have you forever

always and now and here and

there is a place beyond your

forest of whispers where

I may find someone else

I have no desire

to move on

but inevitably

young love doesn't last

my starshine drinks coffee

black as night and sometimes

when I crave the taste of his

morning lips I'll sip the

constellations from a cup

nothing too sweet but

every once in a while I'll get

sometimes decadent because

there are days I forget

I deserve the foam in life

I am breathing in pine needles

and my collarbone

is carved like a wave

above my chest where

vibrations of your clenched fist

reverberates

regurgitates

I thought myself rid of you

how could I be so foolish

I never intended to inhale

stalagmites of fossilized love

and my lungs have never

held so much fog

I'm suffocating on pity

sometimes I forget my pain

and the way your fingers

clutched so my air duct

shut and how you taped

my fingers together to prove

I'm useless

you speak of the way your skin

stung but you don't realize

you handed me the blade

I have just as much a right

to smile

you may be unaware of my

capabilities but I am still here

and my strength is not

diminishing

you are

here

and

I'm trying to forgive myself

for the pain

you inflicted

Well, first off, I would be very angry if my significant other decided to break up with me in an elevator.

Second, depending on the severity of the relationship, I would either drown us in my tears or attempt to beat the shit out of 'em.

Either way, I don't think there would be much talking.

A good morn

late night

dreams reborn

wake to words

feel right

by the daylight

a pleasant doze,

nature flows,

good times on Prose.