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Cut & Bleed

it's stopped raining how nice
or so the night has
its g-rating it so desperately campaigned against
sinister amusement i complain but i have
nothing but this
breathing
the neon chemical landscape fake
night glistens hears but doesn't listen
alone i listen alone overcrowded overpopulated
ripping through cigarettes like breathe mints
at a halitosis convention
dead pigeons out the window calling
the rats to supper
coughing engines grieving widows aging television
sirens
false alarms calling witness to everyday disasters
on the streets uppity mongrels all weird & bloated
flesh matters & anti-matter in the moon spotlight
competing with taxis for the biggest balls
a man jumped in front of the train today
or was pushed depressed or ecstatic no matter
time is lame, fat & depressed everybody knows
beggars coerce the rich in an obvious conspiracy
you know
as big as hercules was he was still a lazy son of a bitch
in someone's eyes
goliath had an effeminate laugh
WELCOME TO CHINATOWN sign says
dry cleaners steaming away, jewelers chipping costs
leathered cops eyeing skirts
pass through the rude belch of hot air & BEHOLD
peasant gourmet pizza coffee donuts cigars anything
you want but don't need the zeitgeist of poverty delivers
right on time
homeless royalty, spiels of the underclass sharing friction
i burn a travis bickle stare
ready for almost anything but the usual nothing occurs
BE PATIENT
doodle around with things i have no intention of buying
magazines, amusing canned goods
wipe the sweat off with the arm of my shirt
collect my head & get the hell out
i have nothing but this
spiritual commerce
karma never stunk so bad as when it ricochets back
from a rotten place disgusted & disgruntled with its job
so repetitive but purposeful only to those who accept
& receive it in good faith

buy or believe it sell it believe it the news is the same
we have nothing but this
everyday someone born someone dead while others contemplate
the tireless vector of the in between

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