Poems
by Fabrice B. Poussin
As the City Smokes
Staring down the wet avenue the revelers stagger
Ageless humans with forgotten gazes
Eyeing the body art they already forgot they purchased.
Yellow and checkered antiques zoom by
Splashing what they can of freshness upon them
Causing commotions of cackles and cusses.
It would have been a night to remember,
Stories for the books if they might only recall
Who was first to fall in the pool fully clothed.
Another day is about to begin in Gotham
In the alleys the bodies will be buried quickly
For it is but an elusive hour when all seems quiet.
Subway vents are afire as if crematoriums
Of memories to be engulfed in flames
They smoke in wait of the next night to come.
A metamorphosis has commenced for these humanoids
Now standing upright with a more secure gait
As they enter the deserted halls to take them home.
Drained of all but life, they will dream upon the vinyl seats
Cradled by the steel wheels of their magic carriage
To awaken again under the gentle light of a friendly star.
Between Two Deaths
Darkness prevails in the midst of this August day
he turns and seeks for an answer upon this wall
thick with a strange mist made of a sticky fog.
It seems he has lost the sense of equilibrium
panic settles within his wondering thoughts
lost as he contemplates what tomorrow may cease.
Living between two deaths he ponders the miracle
which took him out of this odd slumber
imagining flashes of the instant when it all began.
Standing on the edge of a dizzying infinity
his present freezes as if it were to last into the unknown
and he asks aloud: what will it be like in the end?
Dazzled by the impossibility of his own reckoning
he chooses to rest as a crawling realm comes closer
in a shroud he may sleep and drink of an everlasting dream.
Cadillac Emperor
Yesterday a Cadillac, today a Land Rover
gadgets galore even under the leather seats.
The wheels roar passed the last curb of green
nothing can slow the emperors coming.
Like a siren from Hades a horn clamor to the peak
as terrified peons make room for the crazed apparition.
Upon the black mat he will step, smart device in hand
important as if royalty upon a Hermine path.
Scanning the surroundings from those six feet to the skies
even the fearless critters freeze in their steps.
There is no escape for those in their rusty Pintos
its live or die under the ruthless fist of the ruler.
Refuged in the borrowed palace he surveys the realm where
none should move if he wants to remain in his dangerous clutch.
This king reveals orbs of fiery red in the frigid room
surrounded by so many cadavers fresh as the morning dew.
Alone at the command of the monstrous carriage his world
he frowns to maintain a steel hold on the meek souls.
Rain in August
The sun loves a rainy day in August
when he two can slumber in a little longer
I share in the scent of the last few drops
and recline in the distant shade of a giant oak.
The rain must enjoy the raising heat
when with her glassy friends she can rest
no longer fearing the vanishing in the afternoon
and I sit back in the approach of a gentle ray.
Flakes have time to come for a wintry visit
knowing their infinite beauty, they waltz
in their dresses of diamonds, pearls and shiny stars
and I match them in a suit made for an angel.
Bolts of lightning may be fast in their race
yet they slow as they slash through the air above
their temporary scars it seems in deep sorrow
and I stand hands stretched to capture the light.
Window dressing
5th Avenue needs little introduction
to the opulent lady in Singapore
a Mecca made of tinsel and glitter
it still brightens her features into the night
I too have sauntered the gaping stones
mesmerized by the heavens I could no longer see
my body shaken at the sight of arrogant sales
stealing a gaze for lack of borrowed fortunes.
Holidays on fire for the condemned little souls
staring at the bus ticket, home to another city
miles away but centuries apart
their delicate eyes question this obscenity.
Once long ago, holding hands we too smiled
in each others warmth greeted by a soothing snow
while the train took strangers on a fantasy ride
if only we could join the ride in this upscale world.
Now the lights are dark as I have lost you
swallowed by the hungry mouth of an abyss
made by man at the heart of the multitude
5th Avenue, unsuspected road to hades.
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