I was chicken
dropped only a half tab--a quarter before midnight
and hurried back to my apartment
before the day changed
from a Monday
to a ruby Tuesday
where my walls melted
and music smelled like sassafras;
the flickering flares of light from two fat candles
tasted like toasted almonds
every eternal hour, or minute,
or so, I would try to tiptoe down the hall
past the sleeping neighbors who were all dreaming
of me, skulking past their locked doors
but I never made it to the street
a feat that would have demanded
I stop giggling, and my heart stop thumping
for any pig or narc could have seen
my crimson machine pumping
ready to fly from my chest
dawn did finally come--I was
coming down, down from the floor
on which I had lain from the minute
a ferocious fly dive bombed me
somewhere around three
I walked to the corner grocery store
where I bought pan dulce, and was glad the clerk
spoke no English, for surely she would have asked me
to tell her how I survived such an aerial assault
in peacetime
Mar 27, 2016
Mar 27, 2016 at 10:31 PM UTC
I was chicken
dropped only a half tab--a quarter before midnight
and hurried back to my apartment
before the day changed
from a Monday
to a ruby Tuesday
where my walls melted
and music smelled like sassafras;
the flickering flares of light from two fat candles
tasted like toasted almonds
every eternal hour, or minute,
or so, I would try to tiptoe down the hall
past the sleeping neighbors who were all dreaming
of me, skulking past their locked doors
but I never made it to the street
a feat that would have demanded
I stop giggling, and my heart stop thumping
for any pig or narc could have seen
my crimson machine pumping
ready to fly from my chest
dawn did finally come--I was
coming down, down from the floor
on which I had lain from the minute
a ferocious fly dive bombed me
somewhere around three
I walked to the corner grocery store
where I bought pan dulce, and was glad the clerk
spoke no English, for surely she would have asked me
to tell her how I survived such an aerial assault
in peacetime
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