The second hand reminds
the minute hand to move
that reminds hour hand
time's advance to prove.

Corner of here and there
whenever and where.
I beg for change
always rearrange
shtick for crowd
I want them loud
tossing money
****** funny.

You made vows you broke.
Promised serenity. A joke
without laughter a king
with a crown of thorns
nailed on cross of wood.
We rode the rails for free
from here to the eternity
I can be what I should be.

Drugs don't stop
the shaking now
but I still try again
the promises louder
needle full of water
Rehab false slaughter.

He snores and farts in sleep.
Unabashed as we kids creep
looking at Grandpa's books
borrowing them like crooks.
Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.
Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
Bronte's Wuthering Heights.
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.
My 100 Night's in the Bar
tanned in neon's sunlight
stumble home in moonlight.

Polio or stroke or death?
Macabre Picasso thought?
Pocket watch ticks breath
was I only sold and bought?

All the loud explosions in your head
many generations have been dead.
Dancing to Victrola music drink gin
toast survivors we can love again.
Missing an arm or leg or heart
sit with me and kiss for a start.