JUST ASKIN'

What runs through her mind
as she decides
to fuck me?

Does she wait
for her molecules to heat
or is it more of a calculation
of need?

How does her body
shout at her; what demands
does it make?

How does it oil itself?

How does her thighs widen
in welcome; her lips moisten?

Or does terror seize the moment?
Contracting vice-like
her senses that allow
no pleasure, no acknowledgement
of nature's reward
for civilization's fascism?

Does she know
and does it matter
if it's me
inside her
& what part
of me is
inside her?

And does she expect
a bloody rose
or crucifixtion
afterwards?

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2019

JESUS IS LOOKING

to being born
& I'm looking
for a whore
on Canal Street
so I won't die
in this godforsaken world
in an unforgiving town
on the outskirts
of mental illness
& "there's a medication
for that."

Heard they moved uptown,
an old alkie said
in front of the mission
on Lafayette. Ain't no action here,
except for old fucks
like us.

Where uptown? I inquired.

How the hell should I know?
Do I look like I'm mobile
with money and care
if I ever get a stiff dick again?

I needed a bowl
of wonton soup;
the wind
was picking up,
the temperature dropping,
and I was lost
in thought and
old remedies.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2017

WHAT TALE WILL I TELL

about that crap game
I was too long in
and whenever
I wanted to cash out,
I made a number
or found a buck
and rolled again?
What will I ask
when I get up there
and have a chance
to straighten this out--
all this confusion
all those lost opportunities
all those mulish times?
What will I ask Him?

What would you ask Him?

Don't really know...
Don't really know the good it'll do.

C'mon, what would you ask?

Well, I guess like I said:
Why'd you keep me down there so long;
why'd you keep me in the game?

What da ya think He'd say?

I don't think He'd say a goddamn thing.
I don't think He knows either.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2017