Tom takes a drag (Rough Night)

 

He's fuming chimneys on the corner

With his right hand in his pocket

And he glances at the cockroach

Roamy-running on the sidewalk

And the sun will shine a little less tomorrow

On the chalky red buildings

And the lamp post outside Cornelia's

Is still busted and that's unlikely to change

Because she says it dimmed her sign

The one that's neon-red

And the saxophones echo in the night

From those ghostly roadside motel pools

They've all been emptied as usual in autumn's chill

And the smell of wet leaves and wet bark

Makes his gums water and his shoulder blades drizzle

And he'd eat a whole tree if he could

But he's constrained to stick with smoke

And his pillow smells like vinegar

There's dead insects behind the fridge

And an ashtray on every ledge

And he's been trying to feel sorry

For that newsboy with the bare foot

But he got his own feet to worry a boot

Like the cockroach still legging it

And by the time the sun limps up

And stabs his windows right through the blinds

He'll be soaked in bathtub gin

 

2017