Gonzo Love

Stephanie Lane Sutton

 

You, the Duke,          
as a skeleton, as a roof           
are burned in, collapsed.        
Empty the bomb        
hovering above me     
from your grasp.  

       

I am a fortune teller.  
I am a second longer. 
I am divided from your mind.           
I am Dr. Gonzo poised for death.  

    

I remember how to tell the yellow glow of fireflies
from the stars.
I die a second sooner.
I was a second too late.         
I know the limits of your sanity.   

     

Look me dead in the eye.      
No secret kept, no lie  forgotten.

 

Our memories stand with the frames  of my past.
Our topography           spreads out as our bodies.
Sing about it.
Sing my death tune    
sprawled out on a page.         

 

The towers all around are a second off
when your veins are full of whiskey and coke.         
This is where you first told me you loved me.           
This is why the grass is always green  even on the worst corner of Detroit.

 

Wipe your drunken smile on your sleeve.      
You have been waiting for me.

Euphemism Campus Box 4240 Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4240