The City

Watching the sunset

I know that it means nothing

There is something sinister afoot

A thing that cannot be explained 

Only felt

It seeps into my stomach 

Black tar and dust cloud my brain

My blood flows

But never pumps

It lays flat in my veins

Placid and useless 

I watch as it slowly drips from my fingertips 

Shredding and weeping my body 

The blood turns to brown drain water

I become abstract art on the pavement 

Waiting for the next bit of black rubber   

Lying there I dream

I absorb the smells and tastes

Waiting for an end that never comes

The molecules will not let me

An insistent click, click, click begins

Like a jack hammer on Sunset Boulevard 

Cogs creak into motion

It becomes impossible to look around 

Shadowy figures float towards me

Blocking my view

They dance about in fits and starts 

No

It is not dancing

It is only braying 

Yet the cogs continue to move faster

Reconstructing my ideals

A petulant child begins to bang against my chest

Beating life back into the heart

The shadows form a great beast

It hungers for hope and bones

Rising up slowly

I stumble over the corpse of a hopeless romantic

A casualty of war

He is not to blame 

The air is just so thick

Too hard to breath in 

Biblical rules etched into bus stops

And freeway on ramps

The only commandment 

Thou shalt be a miserable prick

When I think I cannot stand it any longer

A cool breeze tickles my cheek

Call it laughter

Or friendship

Or success

It needs no name or affirmation

Call it clarity if you must 

At that moment I remember 

The rusty needles provide drama

The dirt gives you character 

The silicon fleshes you out

A war rages between beauty and destruction

Between superficiality and the real mother fuckers

And slowly

I begin to remember why I am here 

The beast shrinks back as I take the first step

I try and hold on

If not for myself

Then for the thousands of others 

I unplug and tune out

Taking another step forward 

Each time it happens 

They call me a sad old man

Through Armani sunglasses

And Mercedes Benz windows

They cackle at my tin basin hat

Trying their best to snuff me out 

So I do what is necessary

And return the laughter 

Drinking in their stares

Their blood

And in the quite of the night 

The streetlights burn bright as snow

The beast falls to pieces

The shadows slip back into their plastic sarcophagi

Leaving me to move freely  

Tearing off my clothes I dance naked through the streets

I proclaim this the kingdom of art

Of human love and devotion

The villagers peak from within their shanties

And looking upon me

They tear ass into the streets

Mounting palm trees in triumph

Chanting the glory of twisted dreams  

By the time that dawn has come

The city is burning

Leaving the people free to live as they were meant to 

The shadows can no longer hold on

They are defeated

My being is restored 

And the sun finally means something