Jonathan Hayes – The Bottom Line

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 chair I 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 returned A dog barks on East 87th Street and First Avenue This last tenement neighborhood of Yorkville By Hell Gate & red paper hearts in the green park The 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 departure Legs & cocktails Seated by a stranger to crash w/

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