chiaroscuro

The city reeks of heartsickness Sewers intertwining like veins under blackened skin Do you hear the thrum of the municipality? It's like the song of a girl drinking Scotch by the sea Throaty laughter, bubbling glee If I asked you to dirty dance on the bridge with me You would laugh and pull me into the river Where we would sing and grind to Queen All night by the light of a thousand stars and one big moon All you see is the world in monochrome Shades of grey, shades of grey I wish you would take off those stupid custom glasses And see me in shades of color, shades of color Instead of just in shades We once took sixty dollars from your dad's safe And borrowed my older sister's minivan Got drunk on her leftover cider And sang terrible blues all the way to Washington Baby, let's do all that again All you see is the world in monochrome Shades of grey, shades of grey I wish you would take off those stupid custom glasses A

I see the neon stars on black rectangles and the sky is a misty shade of pastel A single white light bulb sparkles above green and white checkered tiles and a wizened crone rocks on a metal chair The motorcycle is a color of a child's yawn and its engine sounds like a purr We sit on the metal sheets of roofs and kick off rust watching the sun rise as we eat tea cakes and rice triangles The air smells like sweat and engine oil Astringent and sweet, the scent of the urban city Alleyways narrower than a breadth of a man The dog slips through the beaten iron gate Wooden floors and flowery bed spreads Her voice sounds like paper in water Endless sky, endless earth Scrapers of the sky, neon lights like a necklace across the horizon's chest.