Thursday, February 18, 2016

poem of the day 02.18.16

i thought i daydreamed the sunset

the taste of excrement
on my tongue
from a sewer blown in a storm
you can’t have it seventeen degrees one day
fifty-five the next
without a little bit of rain falling
without pipes bursting
rivers of shit
waterfalls of piss
microbursts of vomit etc.
pouring out from under doors
filling hallways and closets and kitchens
a flotsam of serving bowls
and christmas tree boxes passing by
the intestinal track of this whole neighborhood
gurgle-swirling in the deluge
turds like driftwood on the mighty mississippi
such a beautiful stink
i think i might die in this wicked failing infrastructure
standing here on the edge
of the basement steps
like a dumbstruck tourist on a dock
waiting for the sun to set
watching brown icebergs melt into putrid slop
telling two girls that it’ll be all right
helplessly trapped on a tabletop
holding their noses
they are so pale so white
i doubt they believe me
as the foul circles around them
splashing so childishly
so careless like fun on the beach
creeping inch by inch
going into refrigerators
contaminating water bottles
sneaking up toward electrical outlets
our own little FEMA disaster
if it keeps on rainin’ the levee’s goin’ to break
we watch the garbage can tip over
and sail around the room
slow like the steamboat natchez
spilling trash as it bobs along
i declare
oh, this south will rise again, man.                                            

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