sunshine

stooped sun is bent over basins of bawling

at 7am

you stayed up all night, couldn’t stay awake long enough

to stop cryin

crying in runs of notes in tennessee whisky as the sun

woke up

lookin at an old man and you lookin back, hopin, hopin

to never get old

because you’re as worn out as smooth blown glass bottles

fuzzy in the mouth

tall around the edges because you never quite came down

from that high

sun smokes a pipe over your blinded eyes blowin through glass air

and the smoke

drifts down and inhales your fears  tears fall like garbage along the road without

you noticin

because this is the legacy of the city, trash in the street a museum

of artifacts

of all the strata of folks who breathed in the carcinogenic sunshine

alive only to die

and the strongest coffee won’t make you remember

every night you lost

smoke slidin down your bare chest mixed with tears every time you said

good morning