bourbon st.


(at night)

 girls dressed in very little winked at me
          glittered at me
          behind them, topless women clutch each other
          in the throes of ecstasy
college kids on spring break hold their plastic beers
and shine their red eyes at me
          sometimes like a signal
          crazy cars roll by
          bass thumping so deeply
          in my chest that I can feel the beats
when I breath in and out
I can detect the gift store clerk's stare
              blank
          out into the neon night
the harsh light making them seem
as if they were in a different world
an alien landscape

the boy was beautiful
              skin like Kahlua
              eyes like shots of Curacao
              hands like an artists'
he strolled by the caf� window
left a taste in my mouth
              and tugged at my eyes
until the wall cut us off
              sharply, the
Cinderella moment ended

(we could have taken over the world, baby
we could have dreamt through the sky
we could have flown until there was nothing
      left to do but
              crash)