Vandal Eyes

Midnight finds me in an alley
Grey and numb, a shadowland
Of trash and ice, a dumpster rally
Of Smirnoff bottles that the wind
Whispers through, recalls the voice
Of men with nothing left to lose
And moms who say they have no choice
And turn from loveless lives to booze.
And walls surround me, cinderblocks
With nothing but the stains to say.
I could just run; I could throw rocks.
But that wouldn't wash this place away.
I shake my can. I shake so hard
The colors surge before my eyes.
My heart is where the dragons are.
My fury guards the butterflies.
A jet of blue, diffused by wind
Hits dead cement. A child’s eye
Is born beside the garbage bin.
I teach the cinderblocks to cry.
A face in shades of blue and black
A portrait? No, oblique outline.
But anyone who comes out back
Will see their child’s face in mine.
And paint streams down my frozen skin.
A kindred pulse outside my vein.
And where the voiceless wall has been,
My freehand testament of pain
Rebels against the status quo
The systems and the great excuse,
The cancer that is urged to grow.
The madness that is running loose.
And daylight finds me in an alley
Grey and numb, a shadow man.
Adding to this dumpster rally
The triumph of an empty can.







36 lines.