Café Around the Corner

I take a mood-altering drug
To stimulate the alpha of my
Wave
Transport me to another level of
Apparent reality
My body swaying
In the saxophone breeze
Of a blue and white
Night
Yes, I do, I pop it through
The lips of my longing
Inject it in the blood of my vein
And smoke it in the cinders
Of my frequently fried brain
You can call it seedy
Or sleazy
Or whatever foul word you happen to like
Me, I just call it

Jazz.

 

Not Even a Last Cigarette

The poets were lined up against the
Classroom wall
Shot through with trees and flowers and
Magpies in spring.
The poor students
Skulls pounding with the noise of the
Outside world
Did their duty with dispatch
Though bloody fingers
Could barely pull the trigger.

 

Corporal Punishment

Swimming through the treacherous office shallows
Limbs kicking, eyes wide with fear
The tantalizing morsel passes temporarily unscathed
Through the maze of hulking predators hiding behind desks
Viper sharks looming in the shadows of the tinted glass
Peering behind water coolers
Waiting for the opportune moment
When conscience sinks below the surface of integrity
And dollars fall like seashells to the floor
Then smell the blood
Fins slapping fins
Deals struck through the bowels of the victim
The voracious tearing of insignificant flesh
Schools of barrister fish homing in with parasitic glee
The mad impassioned frenzy 'round the entrails of the kill
Until at last
No trace remains
Desire is spent
And the stillness of the deep settles
Once more
Over the cubicles
The minnowed minions take their respite in the dark
The precious fleeting moments
Before the next day's feeding begins.

 

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