The road was gold, the air was clear,

Dropped back in the world I go to forget my fear;

Float forward to the crosswalk and look before I cross,

A needle in one hand and in the other, a coin to toss;

I cut another line, look up and make a wish

And wonder to myself if the elephant man ever felt like this;

Take me to the man and tell him what you can,

Drag me through the field, holding my hand

And remind me about the day when she says,

“I want you to see the trouble you bring when

You’re with me, I just want you to come and

Have rough sex on the hood of my car . . . with me.”

The book was open to the blank page in back,

The creeper from the pipe hits and I drop down in the sack;

I roll over and spin with the glow-in-the-dark-stars,

Smoke rings being chased by Hotwheel cars;

I climb the ladder over the black cat in my path

And look up into the cracked mirror from my Mickey Mouse Bubble Bath;

Polly wants a cracker and a chaser with her cheese and fine wine

While I powder my nose and wait for the first sign

And watch her walk over and open the sermon book, and read,

“You can’t stop this now, I won’t listen when you tell

Me it’s too late, I just need to know, when you’ll see

Me walk away, and say . . . it’s too late.”

I skip through all the potholes at me feet,

I forgot my shoes on my way to find someone to meet;

I know it’s because of me when I see her start to cry,

When she’s with me, I know she wants to die,

And that wouldn’t be so bad;

So I get furious with myself and curse the ground leading away

And know something was amiss when she offered me a bag today;

 A little cocaine? A little morphine? A little heroine?

A little something to risk it all for the dust,

A little something to you from us;

Take it home and write it into the poem

And whisper the words when they come to you . . .

You need all this thought to erase this one dream,

You need to say thank-you when they say, “Have a day.”

Take it down and pass it around

And everyone will make a coughing sound . . .

The road was gold, the air was clear . . .