That Vacant Lot

 

I used to sprawl in that porcupine, yellow grass next to that rotting wooden shed

I used to count the blades in that vacant lot

at night I counted stars

          with my pinky I counted power lines continuously crossing

          with my ring I counted fluorescent lights shouting from store signs

          with my middle finger I counted exhaust filled breathes from passing cars

          with my pointer I counted the bricks that made up a revolving door for

failed business          ventures

          with my thumb I counted the diamond chain links in that rickety fence

 

                    I saw the gleaming stars faded

                    I saw nature's eyes coated with dirty black mascara

 

I used to crawl into that haunting witch tree with her twisting demon fingers

her forgotten corpse shed small shades of shelter onto my solitude

 

          that vacant lot used to be my exit

          I used to frantically scurry through the alley to get there

                    I hid from father's eyes and mother's tears

                    I sat stone faced in that dark place

                    begging for forgiveness

 

In my childhood me and my Indian companion pretended we were emperors

ruling vast lands

we played pig skin and stick ball in that wasteland

we picked mulberries from the trees surrounding that chain link fence

 

          I carved my name in that rotting wooden storage shed with the same

          razor I used to carve notches in my forearms

          I bled in that dry grass underneath a vibrant blood moon

          sacrificing flesh for fresh breath

 

I fed my addictions in the black dirt behind that failed brick building

in the shadows where I couldn't be seen I coated my brain cells with chemicals

 

          It was there in that vacant lot

          I watched the world come to an end

                                I sat like a gargoyle on the roof of that rotting wooden shed

                    I watched meteors come down like flaming fluorescent red rain

drops

                    I saw pearl black tidal waves wash across the face of the earth like

liquid

                    furious fists crushing the feeble ground

                    I watched the phoenix reborn in all it's beauty eating the world

with scorching                    flames

 

 

          from the eye of the storm I could feel the world's last dying breathe

                    one final flash

                                bright white lights crash

                                        and last for what seems like a life time

  

                                .................and then...........

 

                    god whispered with the winds of a poetic genius
 

                                        again it was just me

                              alone

                    in the shadows where I couldn't be seen

                              alone

                    like a stone faced gargoyle

                              alone