BRENDA HILLMAN
Torn Shadow
- In the minor city of black joy you lay awake.
And, you cou ld just about
go out there, couldn't you,
torn shadow.
Part that was almost loved.
But who would have noticed you.
Would the wind with its nada nada,
or the moon with her acne scars, would she,
or the tulips, whispering too loudly
for you to join them
or the mommy darkness? Not really .
You went out to the night city,
you went suffering again. You called
to the night city, you c:1lled suffering :1gain,
and midnight came with its twelve dancing princess type of thing,
the dark boys brought their sh:1dows past the bcd,
: the daddy the brother the drug-boy
the hunger the meaning
junkie who read magazines standing up for fiTe
the nice scholar the not- ni ce scholar
the wild boy of suppose
poet one poet two poet 13
and the dream pirate who loved night so well
he wore his bracelets like the moon
and stirred the afternoon into hi s tea , :1nd
; you asked the1l1 why
wasn't I loved and the dark boys said, nyeh nyeh
you didn't want
to
be.
But the dark boys loved the won ' t part, didn't they.
You know the won't part:
won't work won't shit won't love
serene gifts round beaches the so-called
light of day. Most of the universe is filled with it,
it seems like. Dark matter, lamb fat,
Tuesday night television.
The won't part won't go away.
