Bar Italia, Corydon ave (2004)

To Melanda

From the collection: Five Inroads into Reverse Culture Shock

________________________

Under the black light

Your teeth glow

I'm devoured by this place

The beer

in my glass is __flat__

and the waitress sneers

when she passes

and

I'm tryin' to pay attention

but your words keep gettin' t angled

in the cacophony

of trash-talkin'

track-suit wearin'

lip-piercin' posers

like him and like him and like me

Someone got shot here on the street yesterday

This place, where we used to spit and howl, lay waste a day...

Yet even now

there is strange consolation in your smile

and the way your teeth glow

beneath the black light