Low End of the Dance
by Paul Ilechko

Gorgeous mouth spills floral     spills
empty promises     the trailer park

queen     a drumstick rhythm     a chicken
scratch guitar     seeded from emptiness

such lust beyond the ironbound     where
naked bulbs are swaying     across

the emptiness     and dreams don’t dare
to ask     for even broken promises 


     but the brawling brawn of goat men
bleed a spilling torrent of quarter notes

     such dancing never seen     upon this 
patchwork landscape     a jasmine breath

of literature     internalized     communitarian
     fingerprints on brass     a stretch 

of gut     a lisping presence     as she sways
     indefinite     her shoulders slumped. 

—-

Poet and songwriter Paul Ilechko is the author of three chapbooks, most recently Pain Sections (Alien Buddha Press). His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including The Night Heron Barks, Rogue Agent, Ethel, Lullwater Review, and Book of Matches. His first album is Meeting Points.