9th & hennepin

well it's 9th and hennepin

all the donuts have

names that sound like prostitutes

and the moon's teeth marks are

on the sky like a tarp thrown over all this

and the broken umbrellas like

dead birds and the steam

comes out of the grill like

the whole goddamned town is ready to blow

and the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos

and everyone is behaving like dogs

and the horses are coming down violin road

and dutch is dead on his feet

and the rooms all smell like diesel

and you take on the

dreams of the ones who have slept here

and i'm lost in the window

i hide in the stairway

i hang in the curtain

i sleep in your hat

and no one brings anything

small into a bar around here

they all started out with bad directions

and the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear

one for every year he's away she said

such

a crumbling beauty

but there's

nothing wrong with her that

$100 won't fix

she has that razor sadness

that only gets worse

with the clang and the thunder of the

southern pacific going by

as the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet

till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin

and you spill out

over the side to anyone who'll listen

and i've seen it

all through the yellow windows

of the evening train