The Waffle King Dreams

Universal Unisphere

of International Delight

geisha girls

kabuki white

dancing with fans

in a flutter of silks

in a paper house

walls like milk

my sister and I

perched on a flight of stairs

going to nowhere

fighting

for a 007 sixth finger.



It's a small world

at the World's Fair

GM's Futurama

IBM mainframes

AT&T picture phones

promise us a future

we will never see

a past we never knew

extruded plastic brontosauri

made before our eyes

and keep under my pillow

for years to come

tail chewed

and twisted

into a pale green pig point.



The night is filled with man-made stars

bombs bursting in thin thin air

under waters dancing

red and white

playing the blues

downbeat

reflected

in watery pools

in limpid eyes

in hands held

in arms around waists

a kiss on the cheek

a brush of the hair

hips shifting

full

fertile

fragrant



sparkling bright

pieces of light

shards of glass

litter the floor

shattered

scattered



i stand shoeless

naked before you all

but if you're born after

July 14, 1977

you are white trash

that's it!

Sorry!

That's just the way it is!

(That's what the lady said).



And in the middle

of the night

of the light

of the dancing water

of the enlarged goiter

of the broken glass

of the hand on the ass

of the brilliant designs

of the future divine

behold the waffle

the Belgian Waffle

the Golden Waffle

that permeates my dreams.

On The Ferry

I peer over the aged wooden bow
and press my ear 'gainst its sealed oaken mouth;
speak to me
dear one
you saw him last
perhaps right here
also
eyes turned downward
at the churning foam
of dark New York water
as cold and remote as it people
(treading forward
relentlessly
only to to turn right around
back and forth)
endless monotony
like his life must have seemed,
racked with pain
heartbroken
from hurts long ago
that no present lover
or family
kin nor kith
with
arms open wide
smiles of pleasure
at your presence
your wit
your self-deprecation
a gift to us all
could calm.

We sat in a cab together
once upon a time
my queries questioned
your smile a mirror
a told tall tale of the Group
and its leader
the lines between the theater and life.
The audition you took me to went well
anxiety anticipated:
you got the part.
I saw the movie
silly
but still
work
life
art
all rolled up
in a nice pay check
and the knowledge of a job well done
that you would be seen
acknowledged
heard
yet never understood.

You laid your life bare
on stage
at that table
with a glass of water
and a belly full of nerves and notes.
I sat stunned
in awe
laughing crying
taking your hand
on your journey through the jungle
of life
art
plays
love
the ache
the ache
so deep
dark and dreadful
like the disease,
unnamed.

I can hear it now,
in the deep white wake
of the JFK,
the call of a Brooklyn Lorelei
a sensuous siren
irresistible
to the man
with open ears
and broken heart
hip
head
plug in your ear phones
so their deadly alluring song
does not suck you down
to a watery demise
like yours
dearest Spud
my friend
my mentor
my muse.

Silence

In this town

Of lunatic crackpot narcissists

Is a polished gem

Undeserved

By the noblesse oblige few

Who wait for their moment of reality

As dots and lines

On a big fat lightbulb

In the movie house

We respect the silence

Non-sound

Wordless celluloid caper

Rififi

Hitchcock

Shut up

Keep it to yourself

Says the know-it-all geek

Here the the light projects outward

Pictures in light

In the dark

Together

Souls bared

Lives commenced

And ended

And returned

Bound together in prayer and darkness

Jesus would have been an indie director

Showing us the light

The path

Streaking down

Up high

In the back

Through the window

Expanding

Streaming outward

To rest

On nothingness

The white void

Absorbing and reflecting

Our hopes and desires

And if we are lucky

Make me smile

Knees up

Fetal

Reborn

Through the light

And the dark

Where we sit

In devotion

Together

Alone.

Are You Staten Island

That's the question that echoed
That odd old night
Many moons ago
Before your phone could take this picture
Of me and her
Standing in the grotto
(she had tried to find it three times earlier,
But to no avail)
The rock
The rock
Bits of yellow glass
Reflect
In my eyes.

Was I well?
I look thin
I feel thinner
What white wiggling worm
Eats away at what unmentionable part
Deep inside
Moist
Pink
On the monitor
In the exam room
I don't want to see it
But I must
Look at her
Know your enemy
And keep them close
Deep inside
Buried bowel blockage
And pain
Pain
Pain so sharp you close your eyes
And see your father naked
At the Y
Sacred home of naked men
Slap happy ass whacking
The towel
The towel
That covers up the apricot ass
And other things too
But not before
They are duly noted
Numbered
Cataloged
And filed away for future reference.

A future
Brown and fabulous
The almond-eyed future the color of cafe-au-lait and milk chocolate brownies
Seven layers
One for each chakra
Times two
Sending up my prayer
On my knees
In the grotto
And
Lying naked
In the Tiergarden
In simultaneous
Perversity

Oh Staten Island

oh Staten Island
you are golden
in the sweltering August haze
of toxic car exhaust
across the bay
...the platinum porno palaces rise
and glint
make you squint
as you sit on your bench
on Buono Beach
bobbing cormorants bark
stay
stay
stay
just a little bit longer
please
please
please

oh Staten Island
you are golden
bury me under
the wisteria
behind Alice's Gingerbread Box
or better
set me out on a driftwood pyre
set afire
set afloat
under that "god-damn" bridge
a Staten Island Jewish Viking
sailing off
Valhalla awaits
buzzing
wired for wi-fi
and totally free
and totally free
and totally free

Oh Staten Island
you are golden
my dear
greenbelt burnt brown
sunburn stretches
sweet sweet tea
nursing it like a wound
an unexpected child
a deviated septum
can still sense the past
escaping through the torn up asphalt on the old post road
moaning Vanderbilts
cry for sea-salted bait shacks
chokecherry jelly
Stapleton beer
smash the bottle
let the genies out
let the genies out
let the genies out

I Am Staten Island

I am Staten Island
I continue forward in a slow glacial pace
I ache like the flu
I watch "I Love Lucy" to sustain
I am torn
Through
the miasma of an early dog walk
grilled cheese with garden peach tomato and dried mint
ice packs and Asta
opened face grilled avocado and monterey jack
nachos or pizza?
Top chef top chef top chef
garden peach tomato and sunflowers
oatibix and raspberries
...are about to go through the center of the sun

I am Staten Island
putting my feet in wet cement
with John and Lucy
did that throw my hip out
when they get here
...there's nothing but beer
crisp crisp crisps
shiny seated
worn at the knee
but not without charm
I am open to discussion
...I am priced to go
I am available for lunch and/or dinner invitations
just ask me
today
moderate
temperate temperature
yet hot
...irked
where is that damn tuna?
hmmmm?
Staten island?

I am Staten Island
I love fresh tomatoes
I love rock n roll
baking bread for the joker
(clowns to the left)
...kiss me hardy
Duse and Dunkin
donuts and dancing
delicious
delightful
...to mirth
to merriment
to manslaughter
tonight
whatever has to be done will get done
like entomology
naked mole rats
mammal termites
...your mother always wonders
all through the night
all through the day
full heart
empty heart
...sad sad
butterflies flutter
all through your life

I am Staten island
give me a kiss to build a dream on
falling leaves of sycamore
dancing in the moonbeam afterglow
strangers on a boat
...one day
tonight
and every night
rising up in prismatic glory
hep cat nuns in green and gold
...sail by on oyster shell Vespas
puffing puffing
summertime in man's country
van duzer days and clay pit nights
party on the outerbridge
with black and yellow swallowtails
take me to Pier 76 for pizza and beer
or a creamy korma at Dosa Garden
don't forget
this is still Hymietown damn it
...we are Jews
we eat

I am Staten Island
I carry on relentlessly
Emirac Ipecac
ply me with a smile and you'll get more than you bargained for
i pray for the phone to ring
...an invitation
for lunch
for bridge
for a chance
in the primetene mists of my mind
full moon in four hours
werewolf alert
bite my neck
shake me like a ragdoll
...viscera exploding
bend me
shape me anyway you want
I am yours
I am Staten Island
shuffling along en masse
a giant formless amoeba
an enormous toxic algae bloom
shuffling
...yammerimg
shuffling
a line dance of oblivion
Seventh Seal on the 7:30
should I start collecting these for a book
or weave them all into a massive epic poem
to be handed out to ten people passing by the old site
of Max's Luncheonette
...dare I order a cherry lime rickey?
syrupy sweet on a warm Wednesday night in July?
Am I Staten island?
I rise fast
I am bigger and greener than you think
an evening stroll to Tappen Park
lighting up
...lighting out
remember the piers
on a hot summer night
or in the early morning hours
post-Hallowe'en
bumming a ride on the Clearwater
shivering but content
3AM
no cake
not even a cookie
without sweets life is meaningless
...life is cake
cake is life
I shall give your animals
bestiary communion!
CHEAP!
the natives believe coconut shells ward away the snakes
wet lips and lam'e hips
shake and bake
swivel and slip
up we go
and down we go
mal de mer on the Andrew Barbieri
I am green
flat bust broke and down at the heels
tough scruff
come join me
movies in bed
...bring a case of beer
and a bag of chips
or
let's count the different butterflies
dancing
gamboling
a pirouette of flight
is lovely
and cheap
I am Staten Island