tarnished / afraid
after Mean Streets (1973)
I.
to vie for sainthood
first you have to purify the flesh
a wild
eyeroll of
seizure, pale
horse hoofing at
the dirt
boy with nothing
wants to own
the world
a black pit
with its glass lid
splintering
II.
keep hell
in back room
sheet over
its cage
keep fingertip to flame
sin dragging you along
on its joyride
its love letter’s
ecstatic script
spun out into
forever