"POEMS"
by Jay Marvin


Index
BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE
GARE D'AUSTERLITZ
WHY NOY?




BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE

Two tone automobile lust I rolled out of the bone yard
three am onto burnt oil streets the smell made me think
of over cooked flank steak mixed with a toxic fruit smell
on the highway I let her eat till she was full 
nothing but crackling Tex Mex favorites on the radio 
from the boarder the radio glowing against stabs of lighting
and rolls of thunder a couple of prowlers caught
me bottle in hand ten miles from the Mexico I split my
skull in two by my own hand nothing left behind
except an empty cold jail cell waiting to hold another's
bad luck and trouble like so many times before.

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GARE D'AUSTERLITZ

He remembered the dull steel of the luggage cart
the fact it was for free you didn't have to pay
like in the airports and train stations in the states
he loved the long taxi ride in and the cars filled
with people who couldn't speak his language
these cars were small with bright reds and greens 
like pieces of candy on wheels and none of the road
signs spoke to him and he loved it because
he didn't have anything to say back he had come to die
with different hands not the same ones that grabbed 
the luggage cart years ago with her the first time 
in their own
dreamland together now his last time here in hell 
or anywhere
he tipped the driver and checked into his room
across the street was the train station and *this*
a train station would be the last thing he'd ever see
he felt for the gun and fingered it for a long time
he'd gotten it past customs its plastic didn't show up
what if they had found it he would still die they couldn't
stop him he pushed the barrel to his wind pipe
the sound of a police siren bleeped on and off down
the street back in the states most people were getting up
he wondered if he remembered to stop the newspaper
he pulled the trigger the pain of his misspent 
life laid bare
in a pile of copper colored blood and tissue he watched
while housekeeping cleaned up the mess the sun starting
to rise and the woman's eyes stopping to rest on the 
train station
the sign out front saying "cour d' arrivee."

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WHY NOY?

He eased his bare ass into the drivers seat his skin 
sliding on the cool 
mauve colored cloth the morning's cold air rippling 
down his body
key in the ignition he cranked her up and drove 
to the post office
nothing on but loose white socks and brown loafer 
style dress shoes
the man that sold them to him said they'd be perfect 
for any occasion
he swung his bare legs out the car and walked 
to his p.o. box 
ignoring the stares and grins nothing in the mail 
except the usual
fucking bills they caught him a half a block from 
the p.o the
red and blue lights of a sane society in his rear 
view mirror
he gave up without a struggle the hand cuffs cold impersonal
on his criminal skin when they asked him why 
he did it he shrugged
his shoulders and answered why not? They let him out 
ninety days later
looking around his house he felt he had changed 
something what
he wasn't quite sure.

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