illegal trombone serenade

 

artwork "when the moon is fake and your mermaids cry"

copyright ziggy zagmyer

jalopy dreams · Illegal Trombone Serenade

个

(heads up! listen to the poem here)

illegal trombone serenade

artificial heartbeats

television flickering endless shades of blue on walls crawling with artless intent and too

many signals crisscross a confection that reeks of evening news and cheap booze and old

shoes that squeak on streets too real spinning forever-cycles of red-yellow-green-red-yellow-

green-red-yellow-green-red-yellow-green

 

but we won’t know what any of that means

until dogs remember their feet

and

 (here we go again)

                                                the moon

the dream compass

the calendar stone

always the poet’s prisoner

always the lover’s lost butterfly

the lunatic’s faithful equation

(because she is a lightning rod of chaos

and my heart is static cling!)

so up we go

up illegal ropes

                up balloon strings of hope           

                                                up-up-up

over the murky dark misery

over the neighborhood pawnshops

over the angry traffic cones, lonely lamp posts

over the big helzberg diamond billboard

                ring finger pointing to the moon

climb up to the roof of the city and leap

                                reach out and grab that glory-glow

by the toe

but the moon is always fake

a riddle, a clay pigeon, a sleepy dreamer-fever

her big fake face reflected in every apartment window

i try to kiss each one

                on the way down

(all the way down thinking maybe next time try a butterfly net

or a magnet)

 

but dogs remember their feet

and when i sneak away, shameless midnight gut-punched retreat

my shoes squeak

maybe just like

playing trombone 

posted for the open mic at: D'verse