A Poem for Patti

for the bad choices that end your life
but seem like fun while you're doing it
and the choices that you live famously
in a golden cage
listen for the graceful choices
that share your dinner and
one another

i am here waiting by the river
a clown
who squeaked his brakes and sat down
a poet
a revolutionary who sees
dense clouds squashing the river down hears
motors whizzing beyond the banks

i'm a stray dog's tail skirting the ledge
like a periscope view above the river
the river you pissed into
as fame came strolling by

5-29-14