poemS of the day 07.25.13

hollis street blues

lord byron
your birth house
is now
a mcdonald’s
is now a clothing megastore
just off oxford street
is now
a glass construct
foretelling the future
of architectural doom
there’s not
even a plaque here
lord byron
we tried
to find you
amidst the commerce
and glam
amidst the union jack
tshirts
and plastic
london mugs
we really did
on hollis street
lord byron
on hollis street
but we’d have
been better off
in belgium or venice
where you whiled
away the hours
fucking all
of those handsome
girls and boys.
we should’ve
looked up
shelley’s withered ass
instead of wasting
the minutes
standing here
in the gray gloom
next to a coffee shop
that never even
bared your
name.                                       10.14.09

soft accents

you’ve got to do something

about all of this shit that you’re playing,

he said, getting right up

into my face.

but i didn’t play this, i said.

well who did?

he had a thick irish accent

and was drunk.

let me ask you something, he said.

are you canadian or american?

i always get the two mixed up.

american, i said.

from where?

new york.

new york?  well then you’ve got

no business being in here.

he was right, of course.

i had no business being in most places.

london, new york, places due east,

none of them really needed

my presence.

say? he said.  have you ever heard

of a band called therapy?

no.

there a bit like metallica, before

metallica turned to shit.

i didn’t know metallica had turned to shit.

of course they did, he said.  they

turned to shit

when they started playing music

for girls.

i moved aside and he started dropping

pounds into the jukebox.

i’m going to play you some therapy

he said.

fine, i said.

i went back to the table.

what was that all about? my wife asked.

it was just some irishman, i said.

he thought that i was canadian.

and now he’s playing me love songs.

we looked over at him.

he was playing air guitar and had his tie

thrown over his shoulder.

when he caught my eye

he came over

and leaned in close to my wife.

hey, he said.  he tells me he’s from new york

only he doesn’t sound like he’s from new york.

he’s got a soft accent.

i’m really from pittsburgh, i said.  pennsylvania.

well could you do a new york accent for me? he asked.

i looked at my wife

she smiled.

sure, i said.

and then i tried to remember what a new york

accent sounded like.

it was sort of like a canadian accent,

i thought,

only much rougher

and a lot harder on the ears than most.

                                    10.13.09