LOS ANGELES
(1998)

Rescued her
on my Harley
on route 66
as I met runaway Mary
the ex t.v star whose stage
name was Styx
told me had made love
with a Ram's football
stud in a L.A. motel
mud bath
after Heavy Metal player
had him/her
finding a revolver
she took out
of him/her cowboy pants,
taking another chance
at the last song and dance
telling me of her dream
in meeting Helen of Troy
wearing a cologne
from Cologne
handing her a thousand Trojans
in her bed
in an undeclared war
for the bum city street
holding onto a New Year
invitation to a low ball
blowing away her carnations
at the last Rose Bowl
under mirrors of shrapnel
from a john
of a love/hate encounter
in a uniform of disappointments
she hands me some
peppermint mushroom herbs
asks me on the curb
to drive her
to the Pasadena suburbs
as she straps herself in
on the motorcycle
telling me she dropped
a man off
with a mustache of thorns
died and was reborn
in echoes of four stories
on the tallest building
of Los Angeles
then reaches out her hand
and requests to go
Long Beach
and volunteer
as an ex junkie
at a soup kitchen
on New Year's day
meets an ex boyfriend
who use to do dope
and quotes Lermontov
is on a daily Soap
and played a harmonica
in his mouth organ
on this razor blade night.