For Jack Micheline

You took a shot
on a train thru nowhere      you took a shot
sliced it up where you wore america
on your sleeve
the heart
a savage clot      all human pain
triumphant      you took a shot      a slow train going
home thru daly city      your past      arcane hotels
your gangplank
tongue      a third rail
in gin lament and
poetry your only alibi thru
Pittsburg.   no goodbye
what stark opening you leave    angry
pitchfork    quick
edge of storm   a street
in truth   yours.

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