She’s wiping off her lipstick
With the napkin
Discarded in the hotel room bin
When recovered the code
11091
Just below the peach shaped smear
It could be anyone
It could be any 1
She seems to have disappeared
From hotel, street, city, country, world
Was she free or imprisoned
By the code of non-division
He begins tremblin
Upon hearing the song
Cigarette danglin
Unshaven cheeks
Waves from radio crashin
It doesn’t look like his flesh can take it
Lashes lit with tears
It wears him to a gutterin candle
Then the dj destroyed by wild boot and stompin
The radio guts wirin fizzlin cracklin
Teds were churned out
He told the facts to me
But they weren’t the whole story
Teds without mouths
Teds without toe 1-3
But how is this any different
Than originals
There’s only one Ted
With residuals
Ted grinning with shiny cheeks
Ted disappearing for weeks
But worming back in
And still smashing at backgammon
Ted so full of it
Till a crucial moment
When you wondered if there weren’t
Another Ted option
He said, “Here is a trick
I learned in college
Not many people know
You can pop off the top
Of your skull
Poke to the right
Poke to the
Left
And you’ll see
A huge
Rainbow
Pop it back
On
And you’re
Ready
To go.”
I said,
“What is
The meaning
Of this?”
But then
He grew
Wistful
And never spoke
Of it again.
Red hat in the snow
Did you see the red or the white
Or hear a wind through a hollow
A fat man strolls through
But he is unimaginable
Living as a broad abroad
For a good time call
On the bathroom wall
Thief, conman, all around scoundrel
Into his arms she fell
Love went international
Living on the streets
But dressing up for company
Anything was possible
He bit into the halibut
That once flashed a sea bottom smile
Then finished all of it
Two eyes on one side
Camouflaging color
The gall of it
Magnifying glass
Dangling from his neck
Bending to the carpet
Unknown worlds pass
Apprehending the culprit
“You little insect”
Something didn’t fit
Caught Red-legged
Spider Wasp
Killed by a sharp left turn
(Was swept under the rug)
Shoe laces and jumps
The runner disappears
Mid stride
To break the tape
Fearless inside a second
Shoe places at once
I reckoned