the world's set in mirror today
stasis sink catches hours' whiskers
and minutes' drips
the businessmen on the corner of fifth and martin have saint blood
galleon shoes
the women in cars wear plumbing red and stiletto brows
they go to strange white jobs, room-temperature bars

no sunrise today
the morning sky unrolled a chlorine
trickster
downtown seems drunk
it keeps staring at that handgun lip
SOS
smoke signals cough
from industry cocks
a trigger is dangling for a scratching
in the back of every italian-tie benevolent mind

a titanic shadow slithers cross-town
goddess whore, obsidian belly
hungrily wrapping:
the lights in healthy people's eyes
liquid statues of monumental lives dry up
and the TVs blister and drip from roman leukemia
don't be afraid to put an ax through that fucker
speed a message straight to hell...

because there is living deep down still
leaning on paint-chip window sill in emergent sun
there's breath in the air and
lucid vision in the light
open the garden gate and leave it
rent in silent breezes