i swear the city lights dim when everyone's asleep

By Jonas

poetry
art in general
such beautiful trivial little amalgamated lies resting precariously
on the surface of truth

and i remember one rainy night
hell outside in the city on a saturday
for a man on the road
north beach is a little hip again
all the lit kids who fell in love with kerouac in a lecture hall
and drove home for thanksgiving in a new honda
i caught your eye as you drove past
gave me the thumbs up and laughed
afraid
maybe just of what smell a wet stranger might bring to the car

...and i wont lie to you...
this piece is written on a slant
and i'm the kind to curse a hill as i walk up it
i digress

north beach
a bookstore in the rain
the famed city lights home to weirdos and wanderers
warm windows and jazz from pearls spilled into the streets
and into my ears

i ran into an apparition
my heart left me to rap on the being of little flowers by rail road tracks
and forget the greater goings on in a bottle of cheap wine
spinning off into an indulgent decline
heralded as ascention to the golden seat of immortality

life is art always
art is always a lie
looking pretty resting comfortably on the velvet truth
and along this line of reasoning you have to laugh or die

i smiled and walked with the spirit into the bookstore
a poet on the long road
come to stop off at one of many homes

past the 'no public restroom' sign i came to the clerk
asked him to point me to poetry

'no packs in the store, you can check it here' he eyed me

then i was moses walking to the stairs dripping as people parted to give me
a wide berth

i started up the stairs and near the top is a framed poem
and i read

i was sad because the current of the poem ran perfectly opposite to that of the bookstore
in this place where the two things that looked the same on the surface but were repulsed by each other like two ends of polarized iron
there was silence
and the spirit with me whispered words of encouragement and flew away into the space bwtween the place and the words

Unauthorized Copying Is Prohibited. Ask the author first.
© 2005 Jonas
Published on Friday, June 30, 2017.     Filed under: "Poetry"
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Comments on "i swear the city lights dim when everyone's asleep"

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  • A former member wrote: "...and i wont lie to you... this piece is written on a slant and i'm the kind to curse a hill as i walk up it i digress" the whole poem was full of clever and insightful lines, and somehow these lines stuck with me. so observant and human, a little thing that people do.. lovely, man. thanks for the write.

  • A former member wrote: amaizing.....enough sed!

  • capt_funguy On Friday, April 13, 2007, capt_funguy (778)By person wrote:

    like - " no colords " allowed in the cotton club - beautifull irony, the sick twists ... your sense of bearing and situation is amazing ... as far as i'm concerned, youre rich and famous... funguy

  • A former member wrote: I can't stop reading this.

  • A former member wrote: "spinning off into an indulgent decline" Compelling; well written. Great observation in the telling... and what better place than "a bookstore in the rain" ...

  • urbanhumility On Tuesday, November 22, 2005, urbanhumility (1175)By person wrote:

    eloquent and of your "old style".......i can only imagine your sight.......but i love to hear you speak it........well done...............urban

  • Solace On Monday, November 21, 2005, Solace (1069)By person wrote:

    Brilliance - speaks volumes in minutiae - anecdotal and yet driving through subtlety's depths - fantastic/memorial, amazing!

  • purr_verse On Monday, November 21, 2005, purr_verse (1059)By person wrote:

    Just outstanding. I loved every excellently-observed moment of this. *faves*

  • A former member wrote: "all the lit kids who fell in love with kerouac in a lecture hall"- this was freaking awesome.

  • A former member wrote: wow...the message behind your words has left me gasping for air in the current of this piece...beautifully written...this could make a fish gasp for breath if one were to read it (but we all know fish can't read). *Evangel*

  • A former member wrote: no, but they sure can write, can't they?

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