Martin Page 3

      die with them.
Black men aren't abbreviated Americans there
they're just Frenchmen.

4.
Probability survey says prognosis negative, her
      featherweight
stiletto heels hit metal pang bang, slip
lips on mine, neon bodies spooned in twine.
Men nicknamed her nickname Corner Café
      (finest
café to come since 60s pinups) although
for twenty-five minutes she is my only, literally
passion devours, until afterwards when we are
      dire animals
married atoms sparking pilfered uranium
she whispers her nickname: Al-Rahabat
      Boulevard



over outside noises and licks my ear: Fuck the
      guards.
Chest hurts; she anaconda squeezes, releases
CRACK-SNAP-CRACK
excessive onomatopoeias, throws medusa fits
so she isn't the one stoned to death, ready to eat
      rare if necessary.

5.
take her fake down pillow and feign suffocation. I mutter offhandedly about The Dead I Bury
ferry, how the nights look different, sky darker
      than nights of
mine sweeps, worse job to have after sweating in
      bed.
She asks a question, like she did in the beginning
of our relationship, whatever remnant
      relationship there is to be had: