9:05 lost in Chinatown

assimilation is unfortunate
I contain the shudder urban cramp
the smoke pole
a too hot latte
peer’s book

farewell French sparrow
me time is always here
when you need it

condensed packet sounds
like a tax receipt
motion distracting
the borrowed barista ink

inky smudge finger/smudge
on my hi five-r
too late to avoid this pen type
from the burning lip beans

it’s not pleasant
somebody diarrheaed here
pounding iron, Texas
sheetrock planks
cold and burnt
air and oxygen container

you seldom know
tested it for me, disparaged
I guess
you should remember twenty
plus years and grasp, it
that okay?

this my available conversation
and stop opening the fucking door
she asked “Poet or fiction?”
I point: stage left
she suggested returning two-fold
revisit the classics
check page three
review the neglected submission
relish the error.

No parking sign
pre-paid parking feed, bye

synthetic down spread, bye

narrow cup for soy, bye

tenth floor windows and chairs
Chicago Cultural Center, bye

tenth floor: wood, stage, chairs
Columbia College, Chicago, bye

lowerlevel bookfair
Hilton, Chicago, bye

Mambo. Artists. Dunkin. Descartes, bye

Milkweed, Poet Lore, City Limits, Graywolf, Orion, Mandorla, Dalkey

bye
bye
bye
bye
bye