Rooftop party
Leeza dances drunkenly near the edge.
Death is two inches away.
I see her tumbling end over end
a broken
screaming windmill.
Four stories to the ground
where people sit on chairs
arranged on the sidewalk
outside El Pájaro Rojo,
a merengue bar on Division.
Leeza does not fall.
Leeza slides away from the edge.
Leeza stumbles over
to where Brittany and I sit
with a couple of her artist friends.
Girl, says Brittany, you’re fucking crazy.
Don’t I know, Leeza says.
I drink Cervecería Cruz Blanca from the bottle.
If I drink another one
I may have a problem with stairs.
A few blocks away
on North Avenue near Grand and North Hamlin
two cops arrest a whore.
She wears Yves Saint Laurent high heels
and a tight black bodycon dress.
¡Puto! she screams.
Yeah, and so is your brother,
says the cop
as he puts the cuffs on her.
