TIMES SQUARE


They advance, they retreat,flow,give,
take, they tell of wars,celebrations,
deaths,births,ball scores. They
always turn corners,they are as tangible as the old tug
they decorate.
Others, from the square riggers, descend,
light, ignite. At Toys R' Us, they tell of the
origin of silly putty,the millions of color
combinations of Rubic's cube, the length of
Slinky and its wire size.
They are usually white, always bright. This is
America, this is Times Square, the heart and
soul of America. This is where, year after year,
the ball drops.

SIN IN CAMELOT

We studied the mileage
On her car. For:
"Love-roof, silk-thread
crotch and vine."
Rocking in Boston,
Philadelphia PA. We took her deep in
The heart of Texas and across
The new USA
Your squirrel was on his shoulder
"The sniff of green
Leaves and dry
Leaves."
If you shoot a squirrel
In the shoulder you
Will not spoil the meat.
Enter the frog king,
"Did you/he/she it
Shoot his wad on you?"
Aw shoot, "I and this my story
Here we stand."


By Norman Clayton

MELVILLE AND THE F TRAIN

Drowned names
scratched by soon
drowning sailors.
Yo Maria! Yo!
Your black roots
still clutch your
opened thighs, your
scarred, etched and
tortured thighs. Look!
Enter scarred me,
tortured me, who finds
black huor in the
stained stainless steel,
the fluorescent light,
shining now, at midnight,
underneath the East River.

by Norman Clayton