Los Angeles eyes, gather
your alibis and
ready yourself for the drive.
pronounce your bones,
and into the cab.
the district’s a vampire for
your photograph.

the drug’s on its way,
the ransom is there,
it’s marching in playbills down
the thoroughfare.
they’re thinning your blood
and breaking your back.
so tell what it’s like when you write
high demand.

this is a new kind of vaudeville.
perform, now elevate your heel.
goddamn!
the gallows, the theatre house!
they’re alive!

vacant eyes,
creased in a pin-up:
the caveat, yeah but no one
is listening.
you’ve a voice to
euphemize the war, but that’s
not what we’re paying for.

and you may have the radio,
but you won’t move mountains
with the frequencies, will you?