SANITARIUM

As last resort
Retreat to a rooftop
Soft hums & sunlight
Flickering in windows
Car horns radio blasts
Bus motors police sirens
Filtered through
a lonely prism
 
Our blue dome pricked
By a skyscraper tip

Wait for a familiar stranger
's telepathy
in B flat
boys back
from basketball
Joyful screaming gulps
Muffled in pavement

photo by Ryan McGinley





 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBWAY

Chrome eyes
gargoyled faces
pinned against 
the plexiglass

Reflections
and plastic seats

It's raining
on the old rain
But only damp
here underground

A transfer
and you're lost

I've been writing
this same thing
for years
Thinking it longer

I never get it 
down right

The turnstile
and skinny card

A long ago lost token

Thoughts
forever thought broken

INSOMNIA

I can't sleep
when you're not here
to keep me wide awake

WHITE T-SHIRT AND BLUE JEANS

Hopeless and haunted
That's how I want to look
In the sunlight
In the mirror of your eyes
That's the bed I made
And never slept in with you

It's still last night this morning
There's an infinite space
Between my thoughts and your face

A simple pose
An oblivious gesture
Hair all a mess
Pale complexion

Hopeless and haunted
That's how I look
Twisted in these sheets
White T-shirt and blue jeans
Thrown on the floor
As I wait for your body
To slip out the door


from Crowd Paintings
a book in collaboration with artist Donald Baechler

CHILL

Close the door
sit down
and chill

There's silence
to fill
if you want me to
I will

Or you can
stand inside the rain
and watch it wash away
all those yesterdays

Talk to me
It shouldn't
have to be
such a mystery

I've been running around
this town
chasing after
this and that

Falling in 
and fading out

Close the door
sit down
and chill

I want to hear
every chapter
of your story

IF

If loving you
was easy
would I
do it anyway
If leaving you
was what I
really wanted
to do
why the hell
do I stay

CASTILLO

You navigated
my hunger
towards the center
of your back
with a groan
and a moan
Then ordered
me to stop
with a subtle
Uh-uh

I gladly took
direction
But I knew
I could never
fall asleep
in your arms

So this is where
we are:
I'm stuck
Uptown
On the A
Train
And you're
still tripping
On Avenue A

We could meet
somewhere
in the middle

Or I could
let you
slip back
into oblivion

Sure it was
fun
Sure it can
Never be
anything
more
than
what it is
or what it was

Flourescent
specks
on subway
tracks
A screeching hault
125
I'm back into
my spine
Settled
more or less

No regret
to pester
my pen

A roar
and a shake
As I
Barrel
on my shiny
orange
seat

Away
from
you
And
what
could've
Never
Been