Down in florida
with no order (nary) few
who saw the same side of
the cities as the one that I had too
with the eyes that shine familiar
back and forth projecting stiller
silent moments when it all went to hell

to the basement and the attic
just in case you start to panic
there's a cure they're selling for
a nickel sack
its worn and black
just like the back
of the parade on china day
just a few weeks in reverse
this year the lions
ate the pisces
my sign, no not the lion
just the pisces
squirming sad little fish

you threw your pole
in some hole
in the ice
where it shown
a few feet of water
"and I'm tired,"
yeah I know
just a few more blocks
we'll just hop the subway
waiting the station
we're there, yet we're lost
marking our patience
with bottles of rainbows
puddles of drips
dropping scorched from my smoke
half of a cig, half of my lungs
more than a third of the way,
on the train

tally the times
that I was short of willed
marry the light
to the darkness I'm thrilled
and enthralled
engulfed and stained wool
of the dropper,
dropped at the next stop
dirty bathroom stalls
brilliant times square
born broad and sturdy
straw man who hurts me
just let me borrow a bill for a while
smiling forcing
a smile's fourth course
when it all just seems like
a frown from before
and she's evening the score
because 1 and 1 is more
than just one of us copping
and not ever stopping
till late in the night
we run out of steam,
the very last dream that we had in our youth
burning so soon
I awoke nearing 20
just a decade too soon

to bloom,
wilting flower
no hip hip hoorays
on the last day of days
I woke in a casket
shaped detox bed
asking for led
catching my lead,
begging to feed
me food and pills
vitamins to free me
from disease but I chose
a softer way
cheeking remedies
seeking memories
sleeping the day,
the next decade away.

Florida's bunch of
solid hit slumps,
carried over 1,000 miles from
asking the time,
in the square--
she took the local
I took the express,
solemn and hopeful
she's still holding her breath.