men & women to chase cocaine
as it scampered away
from the faded nostril
of a wrinkled dollar.
One man said we're all the same
just people dying to hide behind
the stories of schizophrenic daughters
who arc shrieking felines
four stories to concrete,
dying to seek one night-
stands with the rising sun,
dying to challenge
their wrinkling skin,
their teeth as they wax
translucent, their breasts
as they sink to the floor.
The man never told me why
he fled the silence of his own shoes
to the edge of a dusty car-devoid garage,
to kiss menthol clouds
while a platinum blonde decried
the work of a stay-home painter
who left his work to dry in the cold.
Somewhere past the driveway,
a garbage truck howled
in the new-born light
& as we smoked and slowly rotted
I wondered if one could actually quell loneliness
as if they were shutting a splintered door.
Michael Patrick McSweeney is an artist and educator from the Boston region. His work has appeared in numerous journals and various regions of the Internet thanks to truly wonderful individuals. He is also the founder and chief financial officer of a used submarine conglomerate, the business website of which can be found at discountsubmarines.wordpress.com, and he hopes you have a great day.
