runaway heart

dropped my hoodlum heart off

in a suspect neighborhood

by a scum-caked convenience store

with glassy red eyes

and hypodermic needle teeth

 

tracer bullet tears streaked down

ruddy midnight cheeks

as we said our half-thawed goodbye

 

he said he’d be fine,

I gave my doubtful nod

and obligatory quarter-smile,

and the world spontaneously

imploded

 

haven’t seen those icy blue eyes

since that tiny catastrophe,

but I know he’s still alive

 

in between the numb and empty

processions of standard operating fancy,

I get firecracker chest pains

that light up my inner spaces

like blazar flares;

distress signals sent

from a deep empty hole

 

he’s trying to come home,

but the locks have changed,

and there’s an monstrous guard dog

who haunts the yard

like a silent plague

 

tough love

and easy hate

are fraternal twins

with identical grudges

 

I simply don’t have the kind of space

needed to store and feed all of his misguided love

anymore

 

the cluttered darkness

horded between these

skeptical walls will not give,

and bland logic does not abide

magic or laughter

 

I’m better off without

him,

as safe as a bee trapped

in ancient amber

Reviews

[Kenneth The Poet]

Powerful piece from inside the place where we call the slums.

[Lily Mae]

I love how you sealed it at the end. .perfect...x