Memphis Summer

I took a walk in Victorian Village
down Adams Avenue
I planted myself firmly
in the belief that those were
just firecrackers in the night
and nothing more

I stopped in front of the James Lee House
and thought how it resembled a font
gurgling through the silty crust
of the city by the river

a font of wheezing breath
gurgling up through a funky gin bath
perhaps this is sculpted at the Brooks

Perhaps my symbols are off key
as I was walking in Memphis, Tennessee

I thirsted for the smell of fresh
poached video games' cellophane weft
and fortitude under duress
to be my very very best

I sing softly to Hostess cakes
rotting on the steely grates
jelly pews and putrid malls
faces painted on basketballs

my fuzzy porn and whistling trees
a brewing, dormant, dark disease
under the sill I perched and thought
I wonder if I'll e'r stop smoking pot

I wonder if they felt this way
when listening to Marvin Gaye
Trigg-interpreted summer time
lacking yellow fever turpentine

Garden City Conceptual Love
Suburb Making Babies Tough
Johnson, Markey, O'Moore (Too)
I Hear It Called "Hollowed Out Canoe"