Heartbreak Café

She took a bite out
of love’s apple
teeth chattering
sidewalk hill
she staggers

coffee
a round of passing trains
ghost of sister strange in the
midnight telling mirror here
in the heartbreak cafe

homes burn as fast
as you move in my dear

how many starts have I left
again
the engine’s salty
feet are wet
scars piling up like a six-car highway skid

Firelight tunnel bleak street rites
faces distorted as a split witch shake
angel wept shook her straight
to the no time to waste
Heartbreak Café

Love sweeps the floor
paints pain with grace
soot cake from yore
swept to forgotten shores
night chimney clouds
another night of rain

Devil stirs
pushover shakes
coconut woman
a loose flank
in the fishtank
of Nexusland

solitary swag

Who do I turn to
Everyone gone

Sip Buddha wails Zen forest steaks
sunrise cooks me
light-years away

weeping willow
bows to the passing train

The devil’s pitchfork
pierced angel boy
Phoenix tattoo
over that shaken marrow to the bone
wound

dancing flame in the window
all dark and quiet in the
Heartbreak Café