Jonathan Hayes
The Bottom Line
I collect the cat’s orange toenails
Which have fallen off onto the wooden floor
During its scratching of the wicker chairI also open the window so it can go out
On the fire escape and brush its furry mug up against
The neighbor’s window for entrance & vittles[inside the studio]
The movie is rewound
Ready to be returnedA dog barks on East 87th Street and First Avenue
This last tenement neighborhood of Yorkville
By Hell Gate & red paper hearts in the green parkThe bells of Saint Joseph’s seem so far away
Make an altar out of the last day
NEW YEAR’S / New York City
& a sixty-cents coffee headache
Heading for Kennedy Airport in a yellow cab
By Ward’s Island & the Cantos of a departureLegs & cocktails
Seated by a stranger to crash
w/