The Things We Said One Night:

The way a rug

Really ties a room

Together,

Sometimes things

Wind up on point;

 

And the way we

Sometimes wind

Up together

Makes me feel

Things are all

Right;

 

I always feel like going,

But tonight I’m staying;

 

Take me to a place

Where all I want to

Do is linger just a

Little bit longer;

 

Standing on the street

Knocking the smell off,

 

Writing the blues.

Night’s comin’ in

Soft,

 

Trumpet sounds

Breaking the night

Of circus freaks.

 

Bring it.

Bring whatever you got.

 

I got rope in my pocket,

We might need it;

 

The night illuminates

A clip holding nothing,

 

She’ll show me a story

In a photo;

 

Helio had a mullet

Like no other

And jazz sat next

To blues in a bar

And said,

 

“Tell me a story.

And make it good…

 

The dirtier the better.”

 

Helio had a mullet

Like no other,

 

Well, that’s a helluva

Way to start a story;

 

“Write that down, Eli!”;

 

It was sanctuary with a cigarette.

They’re tearing cigarettes from

Beer and ripping up us apart;

 

Welcome to our circus;

 

The night is but a pup;

 

Clean air act, huh?

Let’s go smoke about it;

 

I ain’t got no body.

I’m just a jigab,

I got nowhere to go;

 

Now here;

 

History,

His story;

 

Circus;

 

One drinkà;

 

You gotta wanna watch;

 

A lot for a little bit;

 

And I love that the bar is;

 

That isn’t a drink,

It’s an hourglass;

 

Where the fuck is Graceland?;

 

And to think… three hours ago

I didn’t want to break a twenty;

 

And I got four loads of laundry

A sigh and a bunch of scrubbing;

 

And then the pen felt so right on the page

And the wind was moving westward,

 

Calling,

Groaning,

Needing,

 

And then the bottle ran out;

 

I’m gonna bathe in your mistake,

I’m gonna wash in your waste,

Welcome to our circus;

 

Coolest bartender that wears camo;

 

You gonna pay your twenty bucks

Or you think this is free soup kitchen day?;

 

I brought a bottle opener to her gun fight;

 

No one

Knows;

 

Eli?;

 

No, not like that,

Like this: Eli.;

 

Pimpin’ the carnies,

“Hot dogs for free!”;

 

There’s something about walking away

And knowing that when you return,

It’ll be the same as when you left it.

 

What’s this?

 

It’s nothing.

And it’s something.

And it’s everything;

 

My pockets are empty!;

 

Teresa, RN, BSN

Eli Taylor, BA, MA

 

Alphabet soup stock;

 

Who needs ‘em?;

 

“This is for her:”

Welcome to our Circus

 

Face and symbols,

 

Peace Love and Gonzo

Eli;

 

A wandering Ulysses for the modern age,

A Leopold blooming,

A Stephen on a walk:

 

Fly, fly out!

A voice inside

Cries go;

 

I have the stink of days on me;

 

Oozing.