Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Slumlord


He sits behind a desk
A greedy man without a face
Collecting check after check
For each tiny, decrepit place

He seeks tenants with deep pockets
New York real estate isn’t cheap
People take everything they own and hawk it
For a sliver of space to sleep

Those crying pipes and faucets
Will never cease to drip
On moldy walls he’ll slap some paint
A Band-Aid is his tool kit

Repairs and renovations
Not things he cares about
Even vermin and dilapidation
Rarely provoke tenant walkouts

Play checkers with loose tiles
Hide ‘n’ seek with nocturnal pests
What’s wrong with this equation?
All these non-rent paying guests!

But he’ll never budge a bit on rent
Because of these infractions
You’ll have to learn to suck it up
When it comes to slumlord inaction

He sits behind a desk
A greedy man without a face
If a nice home is where you want to rest
I suggest you move posthaste!



~kfu

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Broken Circuit


I am
A broken circuit
Blinking
On-off-on-off

On-on-on
On all night

My brain
Like the city
Never sleeps
Flashing, buzzing
Like a bright,
Street sign
Screaming
DANGER
Tripping
Feet like fuses
Lighting up
Like fireworks
Under
Little dogs
And toddlers

I am
A drunken
Skinny cow
Disease
Stumbling

On-on-on
On all night

An inconvenience
In this
24/7
Convenience store
Serving
Atrophied meat
To the
Walking dead
That raid the
Aisles and ATMs

I am
A bundle of
Nerves
Zip-zapping

On-on-on
On all night

Like city traffic
Burning
Coursing
Through my veins
Ebbing
Flowing
Crashing
Causing limbs to
Bounce
Thrash
Tense
Like maimed
Pedestrians
Scattered
On crosswalks

I am
Swerving
Off course
On this
Hypersensitive
Central
Nervous
Highway
System
Driving

On-on-on
On all night

I am
The city
That never sleeps



~kfu

Friday, May 17, 2013

Warrior Marks


A lover once told me
as I covered up the marks
on my marred alabaster skin
that scars are beautiful battle wounds
that prove you survived
fighting a difficult fight.
But I have a myriad of scars
that make me shudder
the worst of which no man can see
because they’re hidden deep inside
where they multiply and intensify
waging war on me
cutting closer and closer
to my delicate core
carving visible flaws
in my body’s design
redirecting its course
so that it opposes and fails me
and finally, brought to my knees,
I wonder how much strength
it will take to fight this inner battle
against me, for me
and how beautiful
winning this war would be.



~kfu

Sunday, May 12, 2013

All Is Not Dead


All is not dead
On the streets or in my head
Lifting lids from a lazy slumber
Winter’s spell I’d fallen under

Now new life springs from near death
Exhaling a potent, perfumed breath
Pollen lips upon my skin
Honeyed warmth comes flowing in

All is not dead
On the streets or in my head
Lifting lids from a lazy slumber
Winter’s spell I’d fallen under

Words once stuck like gum to shoe
Now sprout from my brain like life anew
Winding the grid – north, south, east, west
To the rooftop I love best

Showering down on Tompkins’s lawn
Blanketing Earth in a lazy yawn
A picnic of food for thought
Nourishing life I thought near lost

All is not dead
On the streets or in my head
A vignette of Manhattan in spring
My senses are savoring

Bikers buzz by like busy bees
Love birds neck under canopied trees
All this I observe from a five-story seat
Better than any weekend Hampton retreat

All is not dead
On the streets or in my head
Basking under springtime rays
I hope for more of these blissful days




~kfu