Man, what a beautiful day…
You ever dance with the Devil
in the pale sunlight?

I met her in the yard
like, “What up, hunny?
Nothing, huh?”
In the cut like a dust bunny
“Why the long face?”
Looking at me sideways
‘Bout as bewildered
as a puppy with the primates
Funny, “Well, listen here
a minute Ms. Jezebel
I ain’t only taking a chance
for head or tail
Nah, your light
caught the cornea of my eye
from the corner
where you and the coroner coincide
Pardon, but your golden hair’s
parting the shade
Starving wolves watch from the grey—
I’m a marksman by trade
The sharks smell blood
and you’re looking left lonely
Cronies that accompanied you
went to get their homies
Phonies… Me?
I’m Holden—off the rye
Milk bar marauder
holding up the sky
But why so still
on a sunny summer afternoon?
Full length gown looking like
a casket on the move
I see you ate that frozen
apple juice with a plastic spoon!
That’s my fav too
if I get a chance to snatch a few…
What happened to you?
In a place like this
After dark’s when the sharks
great white kiss
You’re new here
I can tell, don’t be timid
Got a gat for the goons
if they moving over limit
Ha, see you smiling, splendid
I know it’s hard, but
just ‘cause you jarred up
don’t mean you need
to keep your jaw shut
But no rush…
You must not trust heads
Though you ain’t got up and left
Guess this a success
Expected much less
Assumed an attitude
But you ain’t said a single word
and I ain’t mad at you
‘Cause an aura
holds more weight than oral
and I’m well-versed with vibes
and the ways of the immortal
Yup, plural portals…”
A freckle in her iris
My sense?
It’s her own heckler in hiding
Eyelids twitch, pumping
Morse code of the soul
Searching for a way out
the torso of this awful hole
The sane play the game?
Ha, what a fucking joke
Bunch of talking heads
mirror gazing, sucking smoke…
Red eyes firing looks—
no time for combat
Caught in her mind trap
from first eye contact
Had to probe—
something ‘bout them bold earthly orbs—
alienated, dirt green
as a merchant’s core
Asked if she knew
how beautiful she was
but just looked at me funny
like I was unusually abrupt
“What, lovely?
Was it something I said or done?”
Replayed the tape in my head
Overwrite or let it run?
Meanwhile, she gazed up
Lost in the clouds
I looked down, gave up
Thoughts tossing around…
In come the white suits
back to save the day
Fear of getting made to stay
clear paved the way
Shit, even the schitzos
caught onto that reality
Honestly, honesty’s
a foul way out this fallacy…
The head mistress
sent a scowl from a distance
Curtailed alpha males
hid and howled at the henchman
Proud on the prowl
‘bout to pounce on her pension
Growled in my direction
like I mounted her possession
Without an ounce of discretion
yoked up Goldilocks, shit…
White squall of folded arms
storm like I’m holding hostage
The jarred belle
made a racket like a savage
and I yelled, “Bring the axe
or a hatchet to Ms. Ratched!”
Called the staff an infection
on the path to correction
Laughed at my jabs—
passed off as passive aggression
The lab’s antipsychotics
an active investment
in my pores, synapses like, “Pause,
pass the Zyprexa…”
Guards had a gas
It really wet their whistle
that I whistled at a chick
who couldn’t detect the signal
Said the bird’s brain dead
Still look lovely tied up
but she’s fried off that substance
just sunny side up...
Couldn’t stand the leak
in the mortician’s kitchen—
“What you mean she can’t speak?
Body language insisted different!”
Could’ve swore I saw
glimpses of recognition
but I’m just a symptom
of the same reckless system
Losing touch, like,
“Damn, Jezebel. What the hell?
I just had a conversation
with my fucking self…”

Well, my other self…
Hell.