"Stricken" (Poem 1 of 20)

Tragicomedy in Linen

I watched you struggle for a minute, waiting

To see if I should step in, or if you've got this, 

Again, it means something to let someone be

It was all love but it still stings, new mind unsure

What to think of everything early in the morning

Another vignette of tragicomedy in white linen

The way the gap widens between two people even

While they are sitting immediately adjacent to each

Other, knee over knee but one gazing longingly out 

At the world, somewhere else entirely, out on Canal

Street, walking around aimlessly, watching others

Go about their everyday business like it isn't ending 

Amazing how a sunny day can taunt when it wants to

How even a smile can get twisted up on a thought

Snarled and forced into an awkward configuration

The mania and euphoria intertwine like a caduceus 

Out on the corner, babbling, prying metal with metal

The wiring is exposed, been up four days straight

Trying to get paid, living on others' half kindness

Friends are gold, but what chu need is copper and

Platinum, cobalt and lithium, put a hole in the Congo

Silicon Valley fault line felt world wide when it snaps

Speculative bubble, a faked, famous client snapped

Up the painting at the preferred customer pricing,

Flipped it the both Christies and Sotheby's, went

Full on British Mandated State of Palestine with it,

No settlement, the buyer's name was protected by

Both auction houses, embarrassed like they was

Caught kissing under the bleachers, cover it up like

They saw the principal with his principle in his hand

And he saw, threatened to kill them all, family, lovers

Pets, anything he wants, true power is the ability to

Be a monster and flash a genuine smile, dislocated