Saturday, Brunswick St (2006)

For my partner in crime!


Today
the two of us flow,

cruising, inspired,
the dayglo & drab of the street,

our dialogue torn
from pages of hipster fiction —

humming café
lights us up,

we tell the kitchen
to keep us guessing,

& heads turn for our meals as they arrive,
drifting to the table like carnival floats.

Our knives and forks groove
to P-Funk & Aretha,

then cocktails
for our encore:

one Tequila Mockingbird,
one Test Tube Baby!

We hit the street again hallucinating,
the scene sugarcoated like lovable anime;

we sway through smoke & laughter
spreading from streetside tables,

point at the dead poets for sale
in $1 boxes.

We could sift
through rarities forever,

lose the afternoon
in clouds of patchouli...

today we're in love
with our shop-window reflections,

every t-shirt slogan
tells a perfect private joke,

and even the death-bitten guy
who asks us for change is shining;

he smiles every step
to the bottleshop.


As published in The Paradise Anthology (February 2008)