Times Square, Sundown

By
Josh Warren
|
April 11, 2018

What did you say?

I said I heard the sound

of the river and the

creeks and the hurricanes;

they sounded like breaking bones.

Sundown.

What did you say?

I said the sound was

bare. The sound was

naked.

It asked no questions and gave

no answers.

It walked on stovetops, barefoot.

Times Square.

What did you say?

I said the sound brought me

under its blanket.

It held me while I held its throat.

It held me while

I trembled and laughed.

Sundown.

What did you say?

I said you lived forever under the

auburn sky. I said you lived forever

under the silent stars, the dancing planets.

I wish you had believed me, then.

Times Square.

What did you say?

I said he should have shut the door tightly

He shouldn’t let the worms and

flies and spiders and

mosquitos escape

from their home.

Sundown.

What did you say?

I said it was dark. I couldn’t see

my hand in front of my face. I

couldn’t see who was holding

his hand. Tightly,

as if he were clinging to the side

of a cliff.

Times Square.

What did you say?

I said the sound was hardly colorless.

Magenta, scarlet, celeste.

Electric colors, teeming in the waves,

holding the current.

Expressive, warm, sensual,

falling into a tunnel,

endless.

Sundown.

What did you say?

I said the sound was like the

bellicose patrons of the arcades.

Anger, fury, resentment.

Are they having fun?

Times Square.

What did you say?

I said I was chewing my

fingernails and picking

my scabs. I was saying

prayers to everything and

giving alms to nothing.

Sundown.

What did you say?

I said the night, on you, looked

like veins, crawling up

and down your arms, your neck,

crawling down your back,

crawling down your legs.

Times Square.

What did you say?

I said the final movement was

nearly finished. The melodies laid

in the air. They landed

at the top of that mountain,

where the river begins.

Where it always will begin.

Sundown.

What did you say?

I said I’m sorry. I

said I’m sorry. I said

I’m sorry. I said I’m

sorry. I said I’m sorry.

Times Square.

What did you say?

Sundown.

I said nothing.