Subway Systems

 

Steve Dalachinsky

Originally published in The Evergreen Review Issue 110 in 2005.
 

i have a double life the homeless (sha)man said
there are 2 of me
i have 2 selves
i never use them at the same time

i live in double time
i try not to make it a HABIT

N.Y. is my nightmare my dream
it is what is beneath the tracks
defiled virgin whore
maladjusted transexual godess
cross-eyed cross dresser
homeless shaman as greasy as the tracks

i am consumed by jealousy he says
it is my job to carry this burden
so that you do not

N.Y. is skeleton & frame
heaven hell tributes & lies
the facts as he sees them
skyline & light
city of fallen angels
extinguished stars

N.Y. is nature mort
landscape & EATS
jesus buddha & god

N.Y. lives on borrowed digital time
like shaman
leading a double life
the good the bad &
the epi-centre
outside the centre outside time
a part of & apart from america
what is beneath the tracks
shaman living on outside time

N.Y. is 2 selves
never the same thing twice
never living together
as to not use each other up
body soul
ripped greasy ugly love

N.Y. is what is beneath the self the self the other self.....