horses running
with her miles away
laughing with a
fool
Bach and the hydrogen bomb
and her miles away
laughing with a
fool
the banking system
bumper jacks
gondolas in Venice
and her miles away
laughing with a
fool
you’ve never quite
seen a stairway before
(each step looking at you
separately)
and outside
the newsboy looking
immortal
as the cars go by
under a sun
like an enemy
and you wonder
why it’s so hard
to go crazy—
if you’re not already
crazy
until now
you’ve never seen a
stairway that looked like
a stairway
a doorknob that looked like
a doorknob
and sounds like these sounds
and when the spider comes out
and looks at you
finally
you don’t hate it
finally
with her miles away
laughing with a
fool.
Other works by Charles Bukowski...
