To end up alone
in a tomb of a room
without cigarettes
or wine--
just a lightbulb
and a potbelly,
grayhaired,
and glad to have
the room.
...in the morning
they're out there
making money:
judges, carpenters,
plumbers, doctors,
newsboys, policemen,
barbers, carwashers,
dentists, florists,
waitresses, cooks,
cabdrivers...
and you turn over
to your left side
to get the sun
on your back
and out
of your eyes.
from "All's Normal Here" - 1985

She's ready.
He isn't.
She's willing to take the risk.
He isn't.

"I love you."
He whispered to no one
While watching her
Walk down the aisle
With her father
And him as a visitor.

You wear leather
As dark as your heart
You speak words
As sharp as a knife

You smell of cigarettes
And sometimes cologne
You wreak of Jack Daniel's
But mostly depravity

You lurk in the shadows
And prey on the young
You desire a girl
But only one night

You tell her your lies
To trick her to stay
And then like a coward
You run away

My first memory is of you
I move with halting steps
Of feet new to walking
Towards a window of a little house

Looking out on an approaching storm
The air is still and heavy
Pressing everything down to the earth
Like a photograph
In which only I have motion

Heat takes away all relief
Even from the shade
Skin always damp with sweat
Silence smothers all thought of sound

No voices, no music, no birds
The endless shurring of the insects
Has been suppressed in anticipation
With a promise of the storm’s cool kiss

Blue and gray mix in the sky
Prophecy of your eyes
Still so far away
I am looking past the storm
Even then I am looking for you

Waiting for you
I have known you
Before that feverish, soundless day
Before all my days began

I knew you
I loved you
Now I wait
To be with you again

They told him drinking is bad for him
He told them nothing is good for you
They told him that smoking can **** him
He said it can actually cure him
They told him the drugs won't make him forget
He said that he wanted to remember
The drinking is to remind him to smile, the smoking shortens his life, but the drugs. Those drugs helped him remember all the happy times so he would not only remember the pain