big town blues (iii) — at the delicious life

do you wonder
when you look
across that chasm

at the delicious life
the playful to accompany
the wrapping the double

do you not wonder
might it be better
to be
where the chasm’s
a stream

in the marsh
at the sucking graves
of the armies
of lone action

the graves
the child me
was learned

i built this city
here
myself
it was the only place

it’s falling down now
the damp degrades fine structure
like stars stretch

a rope and a rocket
i wonder

would the sky be tied
would i trust the tied
could i cross
would i return