the trenches

[saw]

seen everything
on the street a man could see
'neath the trench coats
of unshaven professors
that claim they have a first edition
of the real penal code

this withering town
ashes to ashes, dust to slime
the reckless disregard
for anything that doesn't help
number one
the disenfranchised anarchists

the limping majority
sidewalk urchins and spiny anteaters
each pedaling their own desperate
medicine, trading this for that
a soul for a pint
and eight ball for a fuck

but to this day
I haven't found a merchant of love

I was down at the abiding savior
for something more immediate
than salvation, I was hungry
and a wafer and some wine
was better than yesterday
so I swallowed the images whole

drowned them in digestive fluid
melted my training in glorious battery acid
I needed to dissolve some things,
I told myself I was nothing special
but a voice kept whispering
that's a big fat lie

so I doubled down, set out again
to find that elusive purveyor

I know you're out there
and I'm after your lucky charms