Withoutside

 "You know," he said,
"Sometimes, folks just don't got."



--

There is a silent house
On the street with the church
With
The Songs in it.

The silent windows of the house, I'm sure you'd remember
If you'd seen them:

      The windows with the “X”s in tape, you'd recall, I'm sure,
      On each of six window panes, an “X” in packing-tape.

Well,

Just under the planters of that house, under
The windows,

Peter
         “Subway” Burgoo scratches himself.

[He's been SICK on three swanky suits from the church so far]

Pete's groveling,

PLEASE!
to each of the passing trees.

Subway trudges, dumbly

Smoking his last cigarette, backwards,

His unfamiliar feet are oozing

From his scarecrow legs.    A dog is watching him.

SPIT.

And the strand won't break;
It bolas about his ankles and
he
    trips, but;

A bungee about his neck secures Subway Pete to the grid of clouds.

SNAP!

Something cracks open
His skull.

--

Meanwhile,
Through the windows, The Silent
Have watched Pete trudge
Up
and Down the street,

The one with the church
With The Songs in it.

They all know Subway Pete as the One

Whose breath could kill a hamster

          or a subway mouse.


-JV