For Max

If such a foolish thing as love exists
It has hidden itself in a deli
And has slyly winked at only me
While simultaneously being the most explosively obnoxious force
two people can muster
Ordering a pastrami sandwhich
has never looked so much slow dancing
And in case you two are wondering, No
this is not an appropriate place to slow dance
But instead of making aliens of yourselves
you’ve somehow hung lanterns from fluorescent light fixtures
And turned this mess
into a banquet hall
I swear
The waiter yelling at me in Spanish is wearing a tuxedo right now
And this
This might be what love looks like
Like
A child who eats only with his hands
makes a mess of everything
and crudely draws dogs on the walls with his fingers and ketchup
And just because he forgets to draw tails
Doesn’t mean they aren’t dogs
This love
doesn’t care about details
Not tonight
Not details like
The old man next to you in line
Or the worried woman in front of you
Or the lollipop sucking cashier behind the counter
And I’m astounded
at how much more beautiful all of these people look in your light
Tonight
Don’t be afraid to sing along with the subway music
This song is yours
The next one will be too
So will the silence
And the sound of the wheels on the train tracks
Tonight
If I could take a sip
Of the single breath that exists between your hands
I’d have a lot less questions
No more answers
(I know those exist in my third and fourth palms)
But
A lot less questions

I’ve seen a man try to stay safe
walking just so through just these
quiet, home-grown neighborhoods
but between guns and drugs and
hoes an hustlers, in every little
city this big, every street you
stand on gets to the wrong side
of town, so it’s best to walk
the main roads, where at least
you can watch if they take me down.

you place foot in front of foot
on stone stairs and proceed
slowly to the rooftop restaurant
and order cardboard pizza and
water without lemon (and it comes
with lemon in it anyhow) and the
pizza tastes nothing like cardboard.

in fact it’s delicious.