Jeffery Renard Allen's Poetry

                                                         America: The Rapture

                                                                            --for *Abel Ferrara

The sky is white and thick
raw porcelain
skyline spraypainted with stars

Skin itches
glove's sweaty interior

Take off

Visualize
a city where
feet paid-in-full can never leave the earth

Unexplainable stains in the courtyard
Albinos in the square
Pigeons scissor their wings in parking lot
Dark dumpsters along the curb like anxious missiles trembling in
wait

Actors rehearse their lines
staged inside cramped public space
sanitation vehicle's motorized rear

Cigarette corked in mouth
the mayor drags the fabled harbor
for spent lives and untidy sums

Unaided surf lends its voice-over
spectators on watch with guarded interest
their sandaled toes victim to tear-dampened sand
jagged remains of the dearly departed poking through

The moon sinks/a perfect fadeaway shot

Dime in your dark pocket
Lord on your shoes
this is your black beginning

See there
your bright imprint

*Film director: The King of New York, The Bad Lieutenant, The Addiction