I've been sick, but here we go again.

It might be cold outside

But it’s warm in here

In between my two peach-fuzz breasts

Where beats my heart

Which tonight

Is pumping to excess.

Filling up the corners of my eyes with heat,

And leaving my face a ruddy red,

It is dancing an African tribal dance

That catches my bruised and bandaged toes

In rhythmic tapping.

I could run up four flights of stairs tonight,

Catapulting off the railings like

A little boy on Christmas,

Just to get to the top where

The stars might be

Just a little bit closer.

If I could fly

This is what flying might feel like—

Like the most ordinary feelings of loveliness--

Of hot blood in your ears,

And wind against your cheeks.

After a Long Day

No pretentious shit tonight-

Just two-hundred envelopes stamped and mailed

To various celebrities, nobility, the filthy rich, and the

Theatre bigshots

In and around the London area.

A salad and tea- earl grey with milk, no sugar

Eaten outside when the weather is

Just slightly too cold.

An American man is at the table to my left

Teaching an Italian girl

To bastardize English.

I’ve had enough

Choices and commuting

And answering telephones.

I want to be tied up tonight

With silk scarves.

Climb into bed, take a pill,

Wishing I had a place

To float in

(A bathtub

Or a chemical high

Or both)

Check the email.

No important messages,

No unimportant messages.

To Balding Men

Live while you're young

and charming-

in your good looks

and striking eyes.

Fuck a lot, and drink a lot.

Because you've seen

the future

in the shining heads

of your bald dads-

those crystal balls do not lie.

And once those long locks

are no more

no amount of stylish shoes,

or expensive cars,

watches, ties, or briefcases

will save you

your middle-aged

thinning terror.

So decide-

to side part or not?

to crew cut or not?

toupee or not toupee.

Or,

make the bold decision

and lather up like a

foamy frosted cupcake

and shave it all off

and be like the happy old men

before you

like the ones at bus stops, or diners,

who drink black coffee with three sweet-and-lows

and smile in nostalgic lechery

at the young girls

going by in denim shorts.

Edinburgh II

Ghosts are throwing

an all-night

vodka-shot

disco

RAGER

in Old Town tonight.

We walked through the haunted

Scotland

city

night

recounting torture-treason-plot-and-plague--

it was quite cheesy and fun

until the candles went out

underground

in the shuffling, shifting

airthick caverns,

where we thought at any moment

a man

with a mask

might jump out

and shout--

and this was the most frightening thought

of all.

So we skid over stones

through the raging

town of ghosts

and drunk girls with short skirts and great legs

And shut the door tight

against the backbeat screams outside the window

and the German girls next door

will not

shut the fuck up.

Glasgow

In Glasgow

all the coffee-shops close at five.

And the weary workers-

the cumbersome commuters-

hop the trains home to suburbia.

In Glasgow

the city is empty by half-five.

The occasional penguin-footed businessman runs by-

"late again, the missus'll have me!"

In Glasgow, the station is full to the brim at half-six,

Pulling away in a hot-sauna car,

and the city whispers to itself,

"alone at last."

Dublin II

Here's to feeling unattractive

in a beautiful city

belly full of boiled egg

weary and tousle-haired

and better on the move

through uneven streets

and aging townhouses

down the coast to seaside

tinglemouthed and toeworn

pock-faces and worn out

and sleeping nights in a bare room

as the young and hopeless

wage their wars

on the streets.

An Irish Drinking Poem

I am a speck in the sky.

An hour ago, patting down my face

in the ladies' toilet,

it occurred to me that from the ground

I would be invisible in the infinite.

So I think I'll have a strong drink,

and idly watch the ground go by,

vast and tiny,

all at once.

Another pint here.

Another red-haired man here.

Another tongue, another bite,

Another button-down shirt.

Another pint.