Public Restroom

Public Restroom

Current sizzles.
Wheel squeals hot water, both ways;
he tries to spit, dismally fails,
neon glares
reflects in a craze
paced all-over.
Squints into cracked mirror;
it panes all over.
His hair stands on end, an end to all that's never.

Warmth, unremembered, a shadow outside.
White blur-sign flashes and fades;
spray unseeingly- unrestrained…

*

Graffitied arts of subculture sound, impression, expression.
Broken chipboard tiles; half-grown teeth-fangs,
needles snuggling deep, in the discarded autumn skins-
stale urine and doles dealt way cheap, heavy gold on black-burned skin.

Take away, walk into the unremembered shadows of the roof-lit maze,
take care to discard the cumbersome cardboard foil- remember that.
Devour and disregard the distant crackle of the roach-king's nest,
crawling up the kingdom within cavernous leviathan stomachs.

Welcome to paradise, the stain that washed away soon returns,
the safety net for family and rest (no alarms are heard in the nest)
roused from sleep, her children crease and slumber,
with the soothing roaring machines as their lullaby thunder.

Yet in the unfound cave of twisted norms,
the stranger paints strange discordant notes:
the accurate nightmare
of a ten-fold masterpiece.