a girlfriend came in
built me a bed
scrubbed and waxed the kitchen flo
scrubbed the walls
vacuumed

a woman, a
tire that’s flat, a
disease, a
desire: fears in front of you,
fears that hold so still

each man must realize
that it can all disappear very
quickly:
the cat, the woman, the job,
the front tire,

I am in this low—slung sports car
painted a deep, rich yellow
driving under an Italian sun.
I have a British accent.
I’m wearing dark shades

out of the arm of one love
and into the arms of another
I have been saved from dying on th
by a lady who smokes pot
writes songs and stories

if I suffer at this
typewriter
think how I’d feel
among the lettuce—
pickers of Salinas?

she died of alcoholism
wrapped in a blanket
on a deck chair
on an ocean
steamer.

225 days under grass
and you know more than I.
they have long taken your blood,
you are a dry stick in a basket.
is this how it works?

a symphony orchestra.
there is a thunderstorm,
they are playing a Wagner overture
and the people leave their seats u
and run inside to the pavilion

In the betting line the other
day
man behind me asked,
“are you Henry
Chinaski?”