Drinking bottles of Guinness
"Only socially, I can't stand the stuff"
Fatality in the finesse
Of 'classiness' and *****.

Smoky rooms and jazzy tunes
A cigar hanging from the lips
Fatality in the finesse
Of small talk and swaying hips.

Winehouse's drawl pours from the speakers
That are modern in their vintage style
Fatality in the finesse
Of hidden grimaces and fake smiles.

Every conversations the same
In it's lack of personality
Fatality in the finesse
Of sociability.

223

I Came to buy a smile—today—
But just a single smile—
The smallest one upon your face
Will suit me just as well—
The one that no one else would miss
It shone so very small—
I’m pleading at the “counter”—sir—
Could you afford to sell—
I’ve Diamonds—on my fingers—
You know what Diamonds are?
I’ve Rubies—live the Evening Blood—
And Topaz—like the star!
’Twould be “a Bargain” for a Jew!
Say—may I have it—Sir?

Preacher, don't send me
when I die
to some big ghetto
in the sky
where rats eat cats
of the leopard type
and Sunday brunch
is grits and tripe.

I've known those rats
I've seen them ****
and grits I've had
would make a hill,
or maybe a mountain,
so what I need
from you on Sunday
is a different creed.

Preacher, please don't
promise me
streets of gold
and milk for free.
I stopped all milk
at four years old
and once I'm dead
I won't need gold.

I'd call a place
pure paradise
where families are loyal
and strangers are nice,
where the music is jazz
and the season is fall.
Promise me that
or nothing at all.

It's orange in the
sky. Shadows became longer
Evening approached

Somewhere far away
There's probably a pumpkin
With a happy life.

My mind is a mess
Swirling dizzily around
'Till I fall over.

dance together in a black and white world
where stars scorch the sky when we make love
your bony fingers weaved through my hair
your name held on my tongue.

i loved you all those years ago
like the winter loved the spring

i held your hands, heavier then,
braver then.
your eyes told stories i couldn't breathe in
for fear that the cold would never go.

you were
the calm before the storm unseen
the window never noticed
the lights shut off in time to hide
and what i knew i didn't need.