At the Waldorf
Where desserts are done in art deco
And abstractions in chocolate
Twist in many shapes
Everything is golden

The lobby a cathedral
Large and brightly lit
At a table draped in white linen
Like an altar prepared
For solemn High Mass

I study the ceiling
Done in Greek revival
Where reliefs of nudes
In white plaster
Resemble marble

And in gilded murals
On peacock alley I see
The sugar-coated sunrise
Over the rundown landscape
Of the far eastside

At the Waldorf
Where words are whispered
Like prayers of the devout
At an altar
Draped in white vestments

“Awake Erato”
I whisper in urgent prayer
As we play master and slave
To senses that blend together
In this moment so finely
I can smell her movements
Taste fragrance
Hear texture
Touch her words
And see her thoughts

In passionate confusion
The hand is quicker than the eye
And mechanisms that trigger illusions
Is the obvious as
I am transformed into
Animal
Vegetable
Mineral
Reduced to the basic
And most elemental parts
In a universe of limbs
That is ever expanding

My Own Lebnan

In the afternoons
A tarboosh tilted on my head
And wearing sunglasses
I sit on the street outside the shop
In a wooden chair
And lift the wooden mouthpiece
Of a waterpipe to my lips and
Lazily exhale a pale gray haze

Soon I set down the hose
Lean my head back to nap
As I always do in late afternoon
The tassel from my hat
Telegraphs my state as
It hangs at 90 degrees
To the 45 degree angle
Of a head asleep

In the distance
Blue mountains protrude
Into purple clouds
And coolness comes off the sea
Asleep
I did not see the rain come
But feel it on my face and awake
To the hissing of an ember
Struck by the drizzle and smoldering
In the tray of my pipe
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Visit Athens Avenue at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6915/