louie at bat

                   louie at bat

awaken as dawn was breaking out of a dream

where a voice kept calling out his name saying

loud and mean -enough of this nonsense take

the sardines...leave- i squinted briskly and saw

berry and lily curled asleep in a burlap

heap while i ridded myself of that faded red

cloth i found yesterday on the green of the park

i had it wrapped loose and snazzy 'round

my neck for no other reason than covering

every bit of myself and hide away all flesh...

now having done so with a strata of fresh

assorted emotions sweat and coated fearless

i did a phenomenal maneuver just to get

on my feet and out of freeman alley unto

rivington and across that little park toward

forsyth street where louie would be invisible

only to come out of the woodwork at the sight

of one prospective customer or sucker...

was i one such sucker...after all louie had lured

me from upstate with the promise of primo stuff

easy tricks and the days had gone in a daze

of dilaudas tuinals and new wave music making

the scene streets burning midsummer eves

until louie got hot on a whim he cut us loose
and went wild on a swing hitting for the cycle