Snapshots from the Rim
1.
Arabesque harems trapped
in dripping alleys of darkness
streets of skeletal factories,
tenement-- on a clear day,
you can see to where Hell
smashes against the reefs.
2.
Starburst moments smacked out
in a Kafkaesque flat above the deli,
pentagram scrawled across hardwood
and candleflicker spills ichorous light
with every thrust of the carnal mass;
Epicurean shadowplay, rites of spring,
rites of Pan, and darkness.
3.
Lashing trails of thunder
stretched in trapezoid brilliance
along sideroad gravel and dirt;
splitknuckle naked under leather and slide
down beside the iron horse and fuck--
midnight coups against the law
of gravity and starlit deaths:
vowels reverberate across streetlit fields.