 |
POETRYAbsalom's Hair (New York Sidewalk)by Quinn MacKeen |
|
|
ME im sittijng on my ass
ona new wyork dsidewalk
digijng at a crack
with a knife
and thsoe peolpe drwon there
woudnot lend a hand
not even to SAAEV THAT BABAY
from drowning
n0omsvae
for4 i had spied
the green fi9ngers
new tipd all inspiiring
sticjking up seearching out
raere air
buttha people laufhed sand tiold feersome stories
of hodden RATS and great crocs
down below
whise sharp sjhiny teeeth
would get the babe
andGRABBEM
so i dug like a mad an
mad khnimefe in the hard trodd
and with mie other left fubgners
to save that pooer childe In the grounnd
treadeen undder cold boots
whil theyn cusred and theye mocjked
at myn raggy headed effirt
diggn up what alweyss was down
fer i was a bum and a riummie
a bagMAN and a troll
astrreetperson or worsdst
a lostsoul
years id walked
closeley crzushed heavydown
my head swinging an sniffing low to thw ground
trrriying hard trying hard
to follow the path
caus i believefewd in the promise
of for me a new life
and them too
and this whole wrold made new
but i gott a ditch duggen
round the sides of the traap door
8but my knikfe woulde not go \deeporer down
so i stood for my bgrasp
on thatt miserable plain
i stfiffened my back
spred an straicghtened my klegs
hammmerdd my handslike harrd jhhoks
into dirt round that stone
thtt great weifghted door
powerlifting i HAULKED
threw back my back headneck wtih effirt
and my eyes went white whitte
anmd the tendoins of my shouldres
were oxens stiifened steeeld
and i lifeted wiht my life my lffe all my lifes breath
and the fioarce on the crac
was some fierce
and non
nonoen wpould elndf a jand
none would save the child
same as it ever was
same as onfe before/ the SAME
a nd i wept for i knrw
that me and the child were borne and bund tp die
with no new seeds or secrets
and the world passt to death
wth none left not one
*
THENthen i saw mi mpthers hands
1first 5he soft greeen tips
then her fingers dark brown and strong
plusht out from the down to svae
wedgin out from under the paeve
and she pushed and i epeeled
and togeheter we pulled itoff
thatw funereal weiggt that cursed ston9e
from off the face of the
EARTH
and the sound that ws hread
by all batehred round
was xexactly
a childs most sharp braeth
like teh suck of oxygenair
when a launrymat bag
made of plas5tcxk
wqas pulled from its yuongbaby
mouth
PAGE ONE (of five)
Email this post