Say It Like You Mean It

How do you say goodbye to the
last of your tribe
& go on living with
a thirst that won’t quit?
but then
the bottle was empty before you
even started
because the journey just ends
with eyes fading out in the rear view
mirror
& a shadow dissolves
right there on the fucking concrete
before you get a chance to say
adios…

“Those were pearls that
were his eyes” I said to the
crazy lady who bummed a smoke
ouitside the Grog Shop on Ocean

I wanted to add, “Look!) Here is Belladonna,
the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations” but
she turned & hurried away

didn’t even ask for a light…

Did you know that T.S. Eliot smoked Kools?

I always thought he smoked Newports
& listened to the blues on a scratchy iPod hook-up
down & out in Juarez

at any rate
totally mentholated