THE END

subway doors slide                        open

marie

old woman    steps               in

chewing                                    dragging

on                        a cigarette                        on

a wart                                      a suitcase

lingerie hacking spitting out

epitaphs

fidel

young lad                                 jeans painted on his legs                        cuban heels

smoking red hair                                          cinder hanging from his lips

suicidal freckles diving

off the bridge

of his nose

grin filling the gap in his teeth                        catches                        marie’s lazy eye

drags her                        languid smile

to his

room

where he rapes her dress

discards her body

on a mattress                                                    showers                         her breasts with kisses

and

shaves

are you still here? fidel asks

i’ve got no place to go marie responds

eveyone’s got some place fidel says                        but your’s isn’t here

marie drags her suitcase

down

fidel’s laughter rips open her heart                                        the

stairs

and into the street

where the streetcars are vacant

and the street cleaners

are sweeping up the tears.

mimi                        blonde & bangs & 15 yrs old

singer                        swallowing                         mike

in a small town                        cornwall                        drummer

band                        with a green thumb

hot                   4

lead                        guitarist jack

type                        was nail’d

by a gangster                        bassist named silky

mimi’s voice

burn’t out by the blues & smoke & attitude

should have stuck to ballads                        jfk &

about drunks and whores                        marilyn monroe

and american wars in asia                        mimi

hired by                                    rich couple

2                        n rosedale

mimi                                                                 bare                        wayne & shuster

jack                                                                 their

silky                                         child or at least join them in their hot tub

asia

and mike the driver toured northern ontario                        kirkland lake

in a volkswagon bus                                                                   south porcupine

smooth rock falls

not enough gasoline too much smoke                             moose factory

mike blew the engine

jack blew his  mind

silky & asia got hitch’d                        mimi got homesick

heading back south

ambushed by

a gang of soft

maples                                     everyone

pummeled                         into plywood

mimi raped

discarded on the side of the trans canada                        discovered under

her baby                                                           pine needles

survived                                   TABLOIDS READ:

miracle baby

delivered by beaver

looks just like al jolson.

matinee smoke swirling through a projector’s thoughts

floating gown                        jungle heat                        lion’s roar

heroine                        river                        monkeys panic

thrashing                        flows                        hippos yawn

at a grinning

crocodile                        tarzan                        to the rescue

swimming over

angry violins                        braided hair

sarcastic drums                        balding heads

darkened theatre

mr. dolan watches a woman and child

popcorn lap                        stumbling

nalod rm ediseb staes otni yldnilb

the woman asks                         could johnny have some popcorn?

we didn’t have time to buy our own

i was a boy myself

mr. dolan                         sticky

smiles                        little

at                        fingers

the                        reach across a mother’s breast

boy gobblegobblegobbles up all the popcorn                        i want more

later

a hand reaches into his trousers pulls out

mr. dolan returns home to their flat

‘s penis                        the

boy

calls

him

the woman asks mr. dolan to have a seat                        daddy

as she goes into the next room

and calls the police.

pipes                        where smoke

keep sweating                         curls up

passion                        like

the elderly artist pushing his walker                        a snail

can’t forget the model he could not capture in gesso                         in bed

pieces of beauty

a blank canvas stares out                         at an empty beach

at a lonely flat

holes on the floor in socks                        footsteps

a face stuck on a mirror                        in the sand washed away

what did she really look like?

acrylic stiff brush                         her hair away so effortlessly!

a glance

a breast

eyes fastened to a billboard with thumb tacks

he paid her

money compliments

she never returned!

a canvas half finished                                                             pieces of her ear

a broken smile

a leg misplaced

the small of her back

holes for eyes

a serial killer’s sketch

the furnace won’t stop barking

the dog won’t keep his opinions to himself

the cord of the radio chewed off

her legs opened like an abandoned carnival

the suicide of memories         carbon monoxide in the back seat of a ford.

north atlantic

stars above                        sharks below

passengers dreaming                        clouds                        i sure could use a smoke, marcie says

about the magic village                                       working is such a drag, jackie adds

where no one worries                        10,000 feet                              tight

about calories                        clapping                        pilot on                         stewardesses

or the price of gasoline                                    automatic                        little

blue

mr. dolan                                                          skirts

insurance agent

worshipping a toilet

candy 13 yr. old maid                        wondering where everything goes

memorizing the speeches

of burning bushes swearing america is                         gone with the wind

free if only you believe                                     in mime

mustafa hiding behind a black moustache

a southern accent

newly weds                              an album of his kids

buried in each others’ glow

an engine                                  sputters

lilly                        I’m dieing with love

& mike                         there’s smoke coming                         off the wing

marcie squeezes                        betweeeeen rowsofseats

a cart

hot meals & cool drinks & chicken or fish or vegetarian?

I’ll have a steak phil chokes

air

pock

et                     on his scream            

mrs. o’reilly swallows her plate

hot meals                         flying               

atlanta                         stops burning

no smoking signs                        smoking

oxygen masks                         drop

love suck                        ‘d out of a hole in the floor

i wish i’d done something with my life, marcie cries

i wish we’d land safely, jackie adds.

white

locusts

jimi the evangelist eat

picks up                        fallen pieces of                          the sky

sade a skinny woman

turning tricks                            praying for rain

holds her side

tears running down her cheeks                            grace shimmering

i love blonde jokes…   jimi’s hand salvation army uniform

dripping                                   singing so sweet

down                               outside walmart

her back

jimi drags sade

to his room                      SELBY HOTEL                    in the next room
I need to see you naked…                                    grace undresses for the darkness
a pair of black                        angels                         in her

stockings                        crossing                                    mirror

waving                        against the traffic lights                        tears

gracefully                        in downtown                         dripping

syntonic sweeps                        saskatoon                        over

shafts of heat across saskatchewan                        her

is this what you wanted? sade’s smile

jimi apologizes

i have to leave you now
i didn’t know that you were a man.