- Non-Erotic Poetry
- Waiting for God at the Port Authority
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Toe Jam who doesn't wear shoes in summer
has two black eyes and ankle chains
"and they broke my freakin' nose" he said
to the judge at Monday's arraignment.
He never quite knew how to curse
but tried freakin' hard Saturday night
just about a minute past midnight
for the bad boys who didn't make bail
but knew what they wanted after lights out.
"Schizophrenic" he forgot to say
to the cops who called him disodorly
in a Port Authority bus bay
where he liked to drink his wine
and pick at the street in his toenails
with Vladimir, Lucky, and Paco
who said there's no vino in Vera Tess,
although there is in his Wild Irish Rosie,
all dressed up in a brown paper skirt,
he should have drunk with some Wonder Bread
he said to the judge who will let him go,
but not to The Port Authority,
even though God is coming today.
If not, he surely will tomorrow.
- COMMENTS
lorencinoalmost 13 years agoThough you say you have not achieved what you set out to, this poem strikes a chord for me precisely because it allows me to sense the human dignity in Toe Jam. In the city where I live, I often encounter the likes of Toe Jam in various people, and every encounter shows me that their dignity is important to them even as they fail regularly to live up to the expectations of a merciless society.
greenmountaineeralmost 13 years agoAuthorI don't think I achieved what I set out to do with this poem, which was to show a sympathetic character in spite of mental illness, who was living in an absurd world as represented by a system in which the police brought him to jail instead of a hospital, a jail failed to protect him from predatory criminals, and a judge naively assumed Toejam would follow his instructions when the dark of an underground bus station with like-minded friends was probably the only place he felt at home.
If there was an edit button, I would have replaced the last line with:
Where Vladimir, Lucky, and Paco
wait for Toejam all day,
even if he doesn't bring Rosie
when nearby buses leave by eleven.
buttersalmost 13 years agoto read, but in a good way.
it's not one i wish to re-read, because of how it leaves me feeling, because of what it makes me see...
moments of brilliance, sparks of humour (the bottle/dress), only serve to highlight to awful depths in this write.
simply__mealmost 13 years agoI DO like the last line because it contrasts the the previous line. It seems that when you put an ending line in a poem as a last thought, it must offer a new consideration, or a twist, not simply some type of moral. Leaving that ending line as is makes you understand this man's complete insanity.
BTW, thanks for the explanation.
The peculiarity of this poem makes it sing. But I like different, go figure. Theater of the Absurd is normalcy in my book :-). If you've had experience with mental illness from friends or (insert many thoughts here) , you can relate.
