Down on Capitol

Down on Capitol

Riding down the street,

The cracked and crooked concrete,

I see the weary shopkeepers,

Peddling their meager wares

In barred and bulletproof fortresses.

Along the string of broken homes,

Battered, shattered palaces,

Filled with long-forgotten dreamers;

An endless avenue of poverty,

Decaying after decades…

Passing through this boulevard,

The only luxurious place I see,

Is a home where the newly departed

Can find a place to sleep.  

So Many Questions

So Many Questions

How many drops of water

Does it take to fill the oceans?

How many grains of sand

Does it take to mold the glassy beaches?

How many unanswered questions

Do you shout into the howling winds?

How many more forgotten days

Do you sacrifice, waiting for nothing?

First Date

First Date

By Brandon Palzkill

Shimmering starlight twinkles

In your bright sapphire eyes

As we jet down the boulevard

In a Cadillac convertible

Top down, winds blowin’ through our

       hair,

Got your feet up on the dash,

Head tipped back,

Carefree, you beam at me

And I fall in love.

I take you to the House of Blues

Buzzing with electric neon

Red and violet and pink,

Bathing us warmly; slowly

Swaying, grinding

To the gravelly rasp of Tom Waits

Singing through the juke box.

Hold you close; hold you tight,

And you hold your breath,

While you fall in love.

Gray, overflowing clouds roll in,

Thick, glassy raindrops

Pound the asphalt, sizzling; crashing;

Chasing us beneath a park gazebo,

We wait, sitting out the storm;

Your rain-washed flesh sparkles;

I touch you… you shiver.

I taste sweet precipitation

On your lips

As we fall in love.