Wednesday, November 15, 2017

melt down in monterey


(burn down days like cigarettes – the psychedelic furs)

 

walking where people are scared

of things that go bump in the night

but all i see are

shadows in the moonlight

 

keep thinking about a girl

i have known

still have her pictures on my phone

sit on a tombstone

warm my bones

from the contents of my flask

task a cigarette

wager a bet

she won’t return my text

if i message her

 

something falls from a tree

but i don’t fall to my knees

to seek protection from gravity

 

i remember everything

the way she could kiss

the fullness of her breasts

which i would test

the consistency of with my hands

 

i select “ache” by james carrington

stare at the rows of tombstones

every word of advice

everyone has sliced

to pave the perfect pathway

it’s here, i say,

all those roads lead to

 

this may be monterey

but this is just another graveyard

somewhere on fremont st.

which i will leave

for the sand by the sea

for a place to sleep tonight

i’m already west of highway 1

undone by my memories of her

that i have stirred

in the stillness of her picture

that is a fixture on my phone

and in my mind

 

what would have been

is a pretend i can’t end

as i course like blood

through a vein

toward the heart of a beach

i will suckle like a leech

until i find the sustenance of sleep

where i will wake and weep

after a dream of unrequited love

then go in search of breakfast burritos

and another bottle of booze

which i will blend in mixture

with her pictures she sent me

when she was nude

sometime ago

 

it’s cold

i unfold

on molecules eroded by h2o

i drain the last of my flask

in hopes i will see double

two of her

with one last look at her picture

 

*

 

i have tried not to love her

but ocean spray of monterey

will always fail to wash away

the monumental masterpiece

molded in my mind

i didn’t come here to find

forgetfulness

as a nihilist

i’m not sure i’m here at all

but in this haze

she is a blaze

burning in my memories

and as morning makes its way

over the horizon

i am surrounded by nothing

but images of her

 

i’m not sure what is true

even digital photographs fade

when the pervade is a parade

of memories

and i cannot see

anything but my longings

 

brown skin from her kin

from india

brown eyes, black hair

i use to just stare

at how her hips swayed

when she walked away

and then i got to play

with her perfection

i exist without detection

monterey has seen

its fair share of artists

lost in the lies

that there was something

more important than her eyes

and the look they use to have for me

 

no one knew about us

i was a secret sewn into to fabric

of a failing relationship she had

with the father of her child

short girl running wild

i will walk this town

that’s high on its history

and wonder if she is still running

 

i should run too

but i know there is nowhere to run

the only thing i cared about was her

but she slipped through

my fingers like the sand

i was fondling this morning

 

we ended among my inability

to commit

now i hit my flask and cigarette

tell everyone nothing matters

among the deluge of chatter

i know they are not friends

because they only engage

the part of me that will

unlock the cage they have chosen

 

and never know the secrets simmering

just below my surface

that would explain everything

never knowing i already know the pathway

to salvation

it dwells within the opportunity to adore her

 

all lies are the truth

and all truth is a lie

perception is the sheltering sky

wherein i hide in monterey

as i glide past a cannery

that un-holsters its history

 

while i wonder if i could

ever repeat my history with her

and undo the moment of me

which made her go away

and led to this day

in monterey

mired in memories

and a return ticket to l.a.

that carries a date

which is still two days away

 

i wanted to escape

the dark streets of decay

and my endless walking

only to find i’m still stalking

some semblance of a sidewalk

where i once held her hand

whispered, “pam, i love you”

and though they were whispers

they still echo down the concrete

canyons of any city

in which i cast my shadow

though as of late

it is followed by an echoed whisper,

“still”

 

***

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