Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Crust Punks


The East Village crust punks and their furry, four-legged friends
Hug city streets in a drug induced sleep
Like infants clinging to their slatternly mother
For she is indeed the one who sternly schools and scolds them
This cockroach clan of delinquents
Spreading beyond the green gates and benches of Tompkins Square Park
Contaminating the community, remaining under foot of pristine professionals
Until gentrification squashes them from sight.



~kfu

Monday, August 29, 2011

A Steampunk Orange


My rassoodock relentlessly revolving
 like the                           greased
  and                                  gleaming
                                          golden gears
   of a                                 steampunk clock,
                                        incessantly grinding
               in         a race
                                 against
                     time,

     spinning out fresh
ideas                until finally
one,                  fragile,
                      fraying
         spring
                       pops         
                               loose,
                                         sending

                                               my thoughts

                                           spiraling

                                      out


                                           of


                                             control,


                                        making


                                   me


                          scream,



                    “Cuckoo!”


                         ~

                           k

                              f

                               u

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Coney Island


Time for an adventure
Hop aboard the “D”
Out to Coney Island for a $2.25 fee
Where treats and freaks await us
Famous Nathan’s hotdogs are a must
Load ‘em up with chili and cheese
Warm funnel cakes and spun cotton candy, yes please!

Take a stroll along the boardwalk
Play a game, win a prize
Lose your voice on a wild ride
There’s the wooden Cyclone coaster or colossal Wonder Wheel
Just be careful with the mounts and plunges you don’t revisit your last meal
Bang it up in bumper cars or Slingshot through the air
Plunge into the depths of Hell Hole, but only if you dare

Brighton Beach is buzzing with unnatural surprises
Bizarre bearded ladies, sword swallowers, and more
All await at the wacky world known as the Sideshow By the Seashore
Amusements are aplenty, they can last all day
Those who leave too early will wish they would have stayed
‘Cause curiosities continue to unveil long after dark
Like emerging creatures from the sea creeping into Luna Park



~kfu

Friday, August 12, 2011

Nurse Bettie


Enter with a password
Let it slide off your lips
Saddle up to the bar
Loosen up with a few sips
Of a signature cocktail
Like a Night Nurse or Bettie Blue
Get comfortable
Show starts in just a few
On stage, Gal Friday and Calamity Chang
Two bewitching babes of burlesque
Don’t step outside for a cigarette
You won’t want to miss what’s next
An intimate performance
With flirty flutters of the lash
A glove pull and stocking tug
Just a peek-a-boo of flesh
To seduce, tease, and tantalize your eyes
Fanned feathers hide what’s underneath
But once the layers peel away
You’ll rise out of your seat
Tassel twirls and booty shakes
Leave you wanting even more
See you again next week
When a new set of salacious surprises are in store!



~kfu

Monday, August 8, 2011

The Korean Women

The Korean women
working in nail salons
spend all day sitting
hunched over idle, pampered hands
their steady, tired hands busy
trimming, filing, buffing, gluing, wrapping, air brushing, moisturizing, painting
one nail after another
customer after customer
hour after hour
all the while
mumbling secrets to fellow workers
smiling at customers
waiting for a tip



~kfu

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The Vagrant

The vagrant sleeping on church steps
Seeks holy shelter from the unrelenting elements that scold him for his sins
Sins that lay exposed not only to God but to the world around him
For he possesses no sanctuary in which to hide his misfortunes and wrongdoings
Forced to make his bed atop trash and cold concrete
He curls up and finds solace hidden in a brown paper bag.



~kfu

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Memories

I’ve lived in a flat on Avenue A
With many strangers from faraway lands
Some of them were straight, lesbian, or gay
One worked in casting and one managed bands

We’d crawl the East Village ‘til early dawn
Sit at swank bars like Affaire and Verlaine
Drinking green fairies ‘til the green was gone
Not ending the night before morning came

Our fuddled feet stumbled down city streets
5A for snogging or 7A for food
Alive all night – this city never sleeps
Which fun to partake depends on the mood

Some journeys ended, some still flourish on
Memories will live here long after we’re gone.



~kfu

Monday, August 1, 2011

Border Patrol

STOP!
Windows down, music off
Passports out
Get ready to talk.

Step inside for questioning
We need to search the car
What do you do?  How did you meet?
Quite a tale, most bizarre.

A PhD in German history
A trainer from the Midwest
In a rental car with Virginia plates
Anything you’d like to confess?

Perhaps your love or illegal drugs?
Do it now for this report
She bats her eyes and says flat out,
“I’m from New York, New York.”

On her face a cheeky grin and stare
Quite a challenging expression
And so he dismisses them
With this smug confession.



~kfu