a man rattled through my subway car
with a cane and a cup which
rattled more than jangled
he wanted money but didn't ask for it
he tried to pick my pocket twice
it's the first time anyone has tried to rob me
since i was 14
he was in pretty bad shape, mumbling
i just moved away from him
a couple puerto rican teenagers
laughed about my passivity
looking me in the eyes
perhaps they were 14 themselves
A moment
when the train slows down
heading into your station
and you preemptively stand up
and walk to the door
and then the conductor,
ladies and gentlemen, we are being
held momentarily by the train's
dispatcher. please be patient.
and the air conditioner hums
and you can hear michael jackson
in someone's headphones
and you are neither exiting the train
nor resting in your seat
just holding a metallic handrail
feet at angles
that inflame and engulf
wait
take a moment to think about that
it will only take a moment
there
Ultracom
thank you for calling ultracom, how may i help you?
divina, please
divina brown or divina rutherford?
uh... i dunno, i'll try either.
[holding music]
this is divina.
hello, we spoke earlier. i need help setting up my ultracom.
ok, we can hook up the machine for you, let me fax the form to you.
ok, thanks.
what is the make of the new machine?
ultracom t1e
i thought that was the one you were renting?
both are ultracom t1e
ok, but ultracom t1e doesn't exist. it must be t7e
it isn't. i'm looking at it right now.
i'll have to call you back in an hour. my technicians are out to lunch and i don't know what kind of machine we are talking about.
ok, and is this divina brown?
no. who is that?
i was told there were two divinas in the office.
no, just me.
Keep me around
more and more lately
i've noticed kids
running a few yards
ahead of their parents
then turning around
grinning, and waiting for them
they are like yo-yo's
swinging on an invisible
umbilical chord
more and more lately
i've seen old people
using canes instead of walkers
and the younger people
using canes instead of crutches
the cane
which we hardly saw at all
between 1998 and 2010
is making a comeback
you can tell what kind of underwear
a woman is wearing
based on her choice of footwear
it wasn't always this way
friends, in 2005 i noticed all the skulls
appearing on sweatshirts
and shoelaces
you see that less now
remember when everyone liked
pirates and robots?
well i do
At the registers
wonder about the women at food bazaar, that vainest of grocery stores
wonder about the ones with kids, grandkids
the ones with spidery hair, the worst english, overweight
staring into outer space, bored
between the register and the plastic bag carousel
surely aware that their younger skinnier counterparts have longer lines
the price of admittance
to smile at her and watch her handle all your groceries, to check her out
is only time
there is some reciprocal relation between the time one waits to pay for groceries
and the time in which the check out girl has been alive
and the old women see you come and go
come and go
arms folded, gossiping, getting paid
headin' home
Near Vinceworth’s wedding day
fill your house
but on what grounds?
fill your house with bees
that come to land upon your ankles
watch them there
above your feet
which rest upon the plastic dragon
who breathes water
in the plastic kiddie pool
yea, right there interested
in your skin?
yea
the world is nothing
if it isn't things that can hurt you
and those bees
they keep their stingers between their legs
you sit there high
yup
the whole gang is perfect
below the sun
Pedestrian humor
mattress usa
on myrtle ave @ norman st.
advertises a
lay-away plan
Chonkem
to crook ones neck
like a violin player
bent at the knees
like a pianist standing up
to dress oneself in opera houses
allow the frequencies, the impossible cottons,
to sculpt oneself in the reflection
of their most brilliant and unusual dreams
i should like so much
to wear my hat
like a bird's shadow
for every question posed
which dwarfs the minds of geniuses
, let me keep conference
with my own chest
and pose from there
my answer, certain
Top 12 store names on Myrtle Ave
From north to south:
PRETTY GIRL
BOB'S TROPICAL PET CENTER
PLANET FASHIONS GEAR
BJ NICHOL'S FURNITURE EMPIRE
1/2 PRICE KIDS
LINDA'S DANCESTATION
TOOLS PLUS PLUS
FRAGRANCE PLAZA INC
KAYCI'S MAGIC CASTLE
YOUNG AND Q FASHION
DOUBLE CHINESE RESTAURANT
DRAMA SINGING DANCE KARATE
Halloween encounter
She was living in Chicago at the time.
She and her boyfriend were at the laundromat folding laundry
when a mother and son walked in.
The mother had whiskers drawn on her face in marker
The son had a circle drawn around his face in marker.
These were their costumes.
The mother walked up to the laundromat attendant
held out her purple plastic bag
and said,
"tree-tree-tree-tree-tree!"