Staring out the train window at miles of brick apartment buildings packed with mouths yammering, hungry mouths, mouths of need
Wrong Headedness
Porcupines die most
frequently falling off
the end of branches
high above the forest
floor, unable to resist
temptation, pursuing
those luscious green
leaves sprouting there,
impaled, then, upon
appetite's succulent peril.
The Job Interview
Cold, stark room - steel file
cabinets, one desk. I sat
in a cheap chair. She read
the queston: What would
you do it you saw a co-worker
stealing? I fixed her with a dark,
intense look. I said I'd rat
the bum out because I'm not
losing this sweet, minimum
wage slavery for some idiot
stupid enough to get caught
and she nodded vigorously,
exclaiming, Right! Truthfully,
I'd look the other way. After all,
it'd just be one crook stealing
from another. No crime there.
Going Through Queens
Staring out the train
window at miles
of brick apartment
buildings packed
with mouths
yammering,
hungry mouths,
mouths of need,
of sorrow, crying
out, and my mouth:
open, speechless,
there, overwhelmed
by the sheer numbers
of us crowding out the sun.
