there was this boy
& he had to climb this very
STEEP incline
to GET to
the place he was living
it was a house
with a bunch of girls living there
& at first I thought they were
his sisters
BUT
I don't think that they were
I THINK it was
JUST
a bunch of young people
in almost a flop house
SITUATION
SO
he climbs past the car of girls
CAR parked on the side of
a STEEP hill
who are
LOOKING to cause him
TROUBLE
& as he goes by them
he pulls himself
UP
using the car
& then
PERHAPS it
FALLS
or perhaps he IMAGINED it
he's NOT SURE
he sneaks in his house
the other girls have all gone to sleep
& he goes in his room
there are two mattresses on the floor
& he has trouble
getting by
BUT
his mattress is the FAR one
he has something that he constructs
from PIECES that form
a FIGURE that is
a small nite lite
& he looks out the window
which is REALLY
a sliding glass door
& FIRST he SEES
a beautiful courtyard
BUT THEN
it is an alley
& CARS
are driving by
SPLASHING muddy water
on the sliding glass door
which oozes in
& SOAKS
into his mattress
he has this bit of something in his mind
elefant chanson
which he loves
& cherishes
& protects
it comes from a SIGN he saw somewhere
& at SOME point
he started paying
MOST of his
MONEY
to KEEP the SIGN from being
TORN DOWN
BUT
THEN
people decided it had some
MAGIC
I'm payed
EVERY month
NOT to REMOVE it
& people started trying to
FIGURE out what
the MAGIC was
& FINALLY
SOMEONE came
with a BUNCH of MONEY
BOUGHT the SIGN
& WHEN they couldn't FIGURE out
the MAGIC
CAME LOOKING for HIM
& the SIGN
DIDN'T
HAVE
ANY
intrinsic magic
it ONLY had
MAGIC
to HIM
& NOW the SIGN was GONE
& THEY were hunting him
to MAKE him
TELL them
HOW
to use the magic
when it was ONLY keeping him
from DESPAIR
that was the ONLY magic
& NOW
things were
WORSE than EVER
& REALITY was SHIFTING around him
HE wasn't SURE what was REAL
HAD he caused those girls to FALL
WAS the SIGN
MAGIC
he lay on his gritty mattress
looked at the little nite lite
listened to the sound
of the girl breathing
in the bed next to him
& WONDERED
