green horse
out walking the night
cuz I can’t sleep
cuz the demons won’t let me be
my shoes burning holes into
the screaming sidewalk
the stars are dumb and faceless
cats slink in the shadows
and it’s good to be alone
out here in the cold
better than wrestling with the demons
though I tried imagining
red roses sprouting from the walls;
this town is big enough now
to have its own homeless
the last of the drunks stagger home
I remember one time
when I was on this same street
on a winter afternoon
and the sun was gently
burning through the clouds
like a smoldering cigarette
I saw a dead blackbird
with its black eye staring up at me
as if to say
here’s where the body ends;
yes, I was always the freak
the weirdo
riding the green horse
on the carousel of eternity;
Time is a fat drunk witch
with the face of Buddha
and the hands of the dreaming clock
keep ticking in my brain.
