## franks wine bar you go to franks for the clams, drink the sea you parched throat, eat the garlic and come alive you dead heart, no one's kissing you tonight or any night really, one more time drink the sea like your dad drinks the earth (black vinegar), drink the rush that runs below the concrete of carroll gardens, around the edges of sicily, the sea that rages so wild you have to close your eyes to touch it, feel how it SPARKLES! you ever see a shining sea? you ever see a sea containable? a miracle suspended in a shallow bowl on a marble counter with the raised wood ledge, next to the macerated white wine. the sea is yours finally, grace gave it to you, not him. you don't come here to be romantic, good god no one writes at a bar to be romantic, you do it to not die, move your feet off the couch, dare these legs to dance again on this wasted land.* *Eve L. Ewing ## black gold records you see jack in the window, well now you gotta walk in to see his silly face on his break, hear about a sound engineer you don't know, pick up a record you don't need, today it's frank zappa who put the same image front and back on the cover of hot rats, why not give another? why not give more? why withhold? you want to ask him, all of the hims but it's too late you've moved on, well more like - you found greater questions to behold, like why is it so hard to set your mind on mercy? why does the war last so long? why are we not born with wings? why do we wish we smoked cigarettes like good sons and daughters of the revolution? why are we born to run until our knees bleed? why does the joy come like a thief in the night? why do we refuse love for lust? why can't we bury ourselves as a final act of care? why do we hijack our own poems with annoying questions? why do mercies start so small, hidden to the naked eye, only felt by the naked heart? why can't i afford clothes? oh because i spent it all on grapes and calla lilies, chose where i save so i can spend where it matters, to clothe my naked heart.