getting home

i see a lit up neon sign

grocery, liquor mart, drug store symbol

from across the park it glows red,

burning an old memory anew in my brain

nights of churning stomachs and banal cravings

prompting a swift removal of self proclaimed royalties

a prize derived from

the right to survive

not to get ahead and thrive

but merely to get by

in this city of endless brake lights


wild and busting to get back home

i'll lead the way

weaving in a zig zag pattern

through denver's empty streets

toward the baker district's sunken ruins

i nearly plummet off the edge of colfax st.

i nearly kill a new friend

cheating in a game of mother may i

with the flashing red hands of the crosswalk man


darting across colfax

over the black and white keys on the road,

we are barely missed by a speeding taxi

in a sudden burst of fury,

we'll take off after it

like a cyclone, all limbs flailing

to push the night air aside and ride

like the fatal taxi that almost took our lives


finally we'll cruise

down the familiar path home

winding down the sidewalk along speer

past the sprinklers that spit on my glasses

in defense of their dry brown patches of land

gliding automatically through the turns

we'll dart through the green and blue shadows

hunched over our handlebars

phantom limbs of the trees brushing our cheeks


we're making good time

and breathing freely of the summer's last warm breath

her unseen hands guide our every move

and i feel like some new born spirit

of the ancient pavement we ride upon

**********************************************

i've got my hands in a new hole

you've got you're old soul

blow out your candles

thirsty for woodland

there's nothing like a fuzz and crackle

to my throat, tongue, and voice box mangled

in a whiskey drink concoction sipped slowly

on a a porch in a north denver neighborhood

there's nobody to send signals to my brooding ears

barred but for your hand to mouth melodies.

in a mystical way you're making no sense

but for the sense of well being that i'm swimming in

check out the sky on this day full of empty hours,

blue as the deep end of pools full of children

i pass with lingering fingers on the fence,

my eyes diving in to a distant summer memory