YOU THINK IT'S EASY

waiting
on the muse?
Try it
sometime.
Ya sit, sit, sit...
& nothing. Fucking piss.
Not a goddamn thing
to get you hard.
Sit some more
waiting
for you to appear,
to give me
a reason
to go on--
a slim one,
I know,
but baby
these are some mean fucking times;
& ya take
what the dealer
deals. Then
you cheat,
steal, lie,
squeeze those cards
for all they're worth:
sometimes,
not much;
sometimes
a fortune.

I'll take
my chances
with you.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2016

SOMEBODY HAD TO LIVE THIS LIFE

Were you gonna do it?
Were you?
Or you?
Or you?
No
you weren't.
It was up to me
to draw
to an inside straight
& get my parents
& get their crazy lineage
& language & cultivate their
sperm & eggs & zygote & shit
& get waylaid, side swiped
with a naive but monstrous
sentimental emotional stupidity
nurturing a sugar fear,
a people fear a crowd fear, a fear
of self & sustainability
in a home of sickness & sustenance.

Raise your hand
if you want diabetes & dope,
institutions & dangling
from the puppet strings
of failure.

I didn't think so.

But how about
if I threw in Bird
& Billie
& Bach
& Beethoven
& Bukowski?
And I'm not even
out of the"B's" yet.
How about Beckett
& bowling
& black beauties,
& Brahms?

How about Coeds
from Harvard
& Bennington
who play
the piano
& know your
secrets better
than you do?
How about Coney Island
when it was Coney Island?

Nobody becomes
who they are
until they live
who they are.
And if they
don't do it
who the fuck
will?

Like you
reading this
now. What
will you do?
Stand pat
or make
a move?

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2015

WHY NOT?

There's a woman
who wants me
to shave
into her mirror.
She's also
a gambler,
though she wins,
she told me.
Texas Hold Em
doesn't appeal
to me
the way five card
does, but gambling
is gambling.

I told her
that I'm best
at playing
with myself,
with words,
I mean, letting
them tumble around
& land
with a freedom
I'm hard pressed
to allow
into other
areas
of my life.

I'll help you
enjoy yourself
despite yourself
she said
& smiled.
Maybe
she can?
We'll see.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2015

THIS GAME IS CALLED "GUTS":

Anything opens.
Five card draw
poker, dollar, no limit.
Not for the timid
or weak at heart--
I was both,
but skilled
at bluffing.

I knew the game
was rigged
when I sat down:
five women
and me:
Women always had
the stronger hand
and knew
how to play it.

I raise
three cocks,
I crowed.
I call,
and raise a cunt,
the weakest looking
replied, hardly able
to breathe
let alone
speak;
they cackled
in unison.
I knew
I was
a goner.
My dick,
as hard
as it was,
was no match
for the most slushy
of cunts--
virtually
indestructible.

I folded
my hand.
Fucked again,
I said
to myself.
I got up
from
the table.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2013-2015