Poem: The City

 

The City

 

the city, 

that sweltering current of vogues and idols

cut out of flows of commotion

in anxious lives.

 

all those scents of the lonely,

commingled with stress and sweat,

 

busy handsome pretty in twittery herds

thickening into panicky flesh,

 

supple yet reactive,

cheeks and brows compliant, 

interlaced as locks, 

surgical noses, lubricious lips,

and the rivers of offered jugulars

which the vendors always checked for throbs:

fascinations, revulsions,

hearts-on-fire lust.

 

the city.

it was a sorcery that savored false ingredients,

gulped down the rest.

 all of it a gargantuan puzzle,

every smooth profile a tired jigsaw hack job,

nicked by truth, dented by love,

fugitive from inevitable destiny.

 

the city,

the lucky were as schooled as minnows,

flashing false smiles to scatter,

 only to aggregate once more,

doomed, yet again,

to smother their unruly scars.

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