TRINITY


TRINITY


She vamps 
the twilight

rather easy to miss if
one were not the sort of
man to search out women
from the slit corners of
one's eyes

silent as a spy
still as a mime
with hat in hand

hue and texture slipped
off like discarded robes
revealing only gray form

sketched in profile
against a bare wall
no windows or railings
no faces or furniture
just clean brown stone

framing a silhouette
of cigarette and glove
fur stole and lace
thigh and spiked heel

in a rare moment
for Cherisse
of cold cash grace

Feeling five workdays
dragging my feet and
payday dragging at
my back pocket

I taste October's breeze
chill ghosts flowing
from her pose to my pace
yet crisp and clean
as new fire

I run my hand down my hip
to my wallet which I find
as sensual as crisp bills
tossed on a barmaid's tray

and casually closing the
gap between us I put on
the best man of the world
look that any twenty one
year old could manage and
prepare to ask her if she
would like to go somewhere
with me and

just drink some coffee

(A wise magician knows
when to leave certain
rebellious spirits alone
and Cherisse and I have
different demons to slay)

But before I can so much as
turn and brush the tangled
hair from my eyes

she whispers

in that quick little
girl clip of hers
yet quiet as a shadow
following its owner

"Johnny I can't talk now Jimbo's here" 

Not even her
lips move

Like a cat too vain to
acknowledge being watched
I continue on my way
long and even strides
eyes to the front but
head turning ever so
slightly this way and that
just as one follows the
muggers following close by

past another figure
blending into another
wall of gray brick
thick shaggy hair
pale pockmarked skin
clean slack jaw
chewing on something
faded shirt new Levi's
whistling to himself
seeing nothing
noticing everything

(But I have my own tricks
and most folks never see me
when I'm not really here
but then they aren't
really here either)

A pimp a witch and a whore
trinity of bleeding moonlight
lost in one another's spells
of blindness and bait

or perhaps just
a shadow whispering
to a shadow slipping
past a shadow watching
a shadow waiting for the
night to fade us all away
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