 |
| From East River Ferry Adventure – July 10, 2011 |
bohemian gangster
(for Nicole)
he waits for the boys to come back from the job
he’s in the back of the café, smoking a clove cigarette
picking lint off the front of his plaid work shirt
he keeps a hand-crafted artisanal hatchet
concealed in a quick-draw sling under the table
you can’t be too careful these days
there was a time, not so long before,
when the gangster’s life was easier, safer
the coffee shops and independent bookstores
and the head shops — especially the head shops —
paid their money and kept their mouths shut
no one bought a bong or a copy of Ginsberg
in this city without him getting a piece of it
now, though, with every Barnes & Noble
selling coffee and Kerouac like it was nothing
things just ain’t what they used to be
it was getting so a man couldn’t even ride the L
without some flip-flop-clad Portland beard
sitting in the seat he always sat in
he was starting to wonder if he shouldn’t go legit
open up a little place of his own in DUMBO
or maybe Sunset Park, where the normal people live
hell, even a hookah shop would be easier than this
he stabs out his clove, runs the stirrer through the
foam leaf on top of his latte, sighs deeply
15 January 2013
Auburn, AL
Comments