haunt of prophecy

by rico devante

dress the boys in newspapers
so the clouds can suckle
their mirthful minds
and pacify their dreaming feet

wrap them in virgin scarves
so they can encroach upon
the holy dreams of autumn
as calm as dizzy rapture
as pungent as fallen snow

cover them in plate glass
so the pleasures of
passion, grieving,
elation and despair
can reflect their
brassy tenderness

veil their sin-stained faces
with swallow's wings
until their spirits boil in paradise
and the sky becomes a part
of their next glory

copyright 2009

ghetto dream

by rico devante

it grows like a sharp rat tooth
it cuts like broken glass
it cracks like aging pavement
it festers like gunshot wounds
it stinks like pissed on dandelions
and vanishes like hope

copyright 2009

cappuccino

by rico devante

In a cafe with lava lamps and long-haired baristas,
She murmured, "How can you stomach that crap.
That caffeine-laced sludge popularized
By pseudo-intellectual pashas."

She hated cafes especially ones with
Lava lamps and long-haired baristas.
And Caffeine made her breasts heave .

Her soup was littered with cigarette butts;
Her face, grayed from the weight
Of too much experience.

Staring at my cappuccino mug, she promised
To kill herself before she would drink
Such a bourgeois concoction.

All I could do was offer her a sip.

copyright 2009