Wednesday, May 30, 2012

City Streets at Night


Laid slick with the stink of liquor-licked stomachs,
sallow streets lie steeped in stony sepia,

Belly-up to blazing bursts: fluorescent
cigarettes prick yellow the sickly night sky.

Lank against my last dregs of architecture, I
shuck bright eyes till aged whites fill my husk.

As the carnal colonies crawl my slim stems, I
steep my buds in fairy dust, lace my leaves with snow.

Dark stark pupils, gutted and stuffed, seek skyward
stars where lewd gas lanterns sputter and burn.

--Maggie Cheung

For CCR199Y1: Reading and Writing Poetry, first year seminar course at the University of Toronto.

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