West Village Lights

By Mofolasayo Ogundiran

 

Everything is loud, even our bodies at 4 a.m. on Greenwich Row,

when cabs halt at our flags of thumbs, ask us where and swallow us whole.

When the bartender is alone smoothing down the wood; one last look at the redhead whose hips lit the room on fire. When everything is hot, even the slightest run

of a hand between your thighs fractures the cool, leaves you pecking

at a stranger’s ear like a retarded pigeon looking for comfort food. Below the snow shoveled asphalt, you’ll find your religion on a train that rumbles nowhere,

and the rails won’t mind that the veins in your arms are bruised chameleons morphing into dead-end signs, because tonight, everything is wide, even the elevator swings

like a pendulum. And inside your motel bathroom the neon buzz will stay strung

out on your face, dying you some kind of yellow. Right then, I promise to be there-

loudly and hung, the only arrow pointing you away from the glow.

 

 

 

 

 

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