Poetry : Kristofer Collins
After Berrigan
In Bloomfield the beer is cheap, and here we are
With chairs liberated from other tables & a glassy crowd
Staring up in to our eyes. Out there is the bridge & little
houses beneath it. A ball field gone barren from lack of play.
Do you believe in any of it. If I tell you it’s all gone, everything
Beyond the door destroyed forever, then it is. And when we walk
Outside all of what you see is just your brain filling in the blanks.
Look, there are little lights embedded in the asphalt here, a beautiful
Long lane shimmering with every step & the black sky has got it’s hat
On, ready for us to leave & bow like a gentleman upon our exit crashing
It’s dark brow into the broken sidewalk of your very last dream.
Kristofer Collins is the managing editor of The New Yinzer, an occasional book reviewer for The Post Gazette, and owner of Desolation Row CDs. He is the author of the poetry collections King Everything, The Book of Names, and most recently, The Liturgy of Streets.
