Tonight’s the Night We Begin!

By on Apr 13, 2010 in Poetry

CBGB photo and dragon

From tar roof tops people lean and watch
in the soft summer afternoon heat
below them I crusade in full-color 3-D
through the holy land of NYC

St. Mark’s Place across town
I am a warrior bound
to take back CBGB’s from the unbelievers
I am a warrior bound

(and there’s Mojo’s
the scene five years later of our
last fight ever, when
for your birthday
I bought you
for your birthday
I bought you
What the hell
was I thinking?
I bought you
a cheap Chinatown
red dragon
night light
and
it only
got worse
from there)

The sidewalk grate cuts loose a roar
a fiery blast from the
Bleecker Street 6
burns off my sweat.

The future comes on like that
a dragon’s white eyes and acid roar
down those dark tunnels below the city streets
beyond human sight.

Tonight’s the night, Tony promised, when you and I will begin.
Teenage Fanclub at CB’s and a crazy girl he thinks I might like.

So beware, you dragons of light
I’m a happy boy and I’m coming in.
You dragons of light—beware!
Tonight’s the night we begin!

Wild Transitions Contents

About

Bill Gillard really doesn't like it when people park outside of the lines in a crowded lot. He doesn't like love songs or the smell of cooking meat. He dislikes the noise of his own voice but savors the silence before a sneeze. If you catch him in an expansive moment, he does grudgingly admit to liking peanut butter and mustard sandwiches, farmers' markets, hockey on a clean sheet of ice, yoga at 6 a.m., and Wisconsin winters without end, amen. In his spare time, he teaches writing and literature at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley.

One Comment

  1. Abigail August 25, 2010

    One of the first decent pieces I’ve read online in a while, out of all the “known” literary journals.