#1: Old Nick
Mud slinger at the front of a train-
I’ve got a little bit of love,
And a little bit of pain.
You’re love-sicker, I can pick at your brain
For a finger and a glove,
I can give you Novacane.
You need liquor, saltwater - malt, lager-
Just to pick up your slump,
Shovel a tux from your grave.
I’m on a steady cold diet
Every choke, my grip!
The jig is up
You tried to kill me when I was silent…
Back in 10th grade, I had to appear
I peddled effigy per locker and I clad your veneer.
But when I saw you walking down the hall dressed with ill intent toward me-
Bloody fists and clots, they couldn’t trench the will to sketch stories.
Now, another test you couldn't pass-
The stick-up or the crash? The gate flooder, Storm-rider, Bladerunner-
On the dash. Fake fucker wouldn’t last without a (choo!)
Nick Casper's taking all your cash, and slain identities
You see-
I’m not here. You’ll never know the real me.
I'm not there. You’ll never see me bluffing.
I’m not here. I am the second coming.
I’ll die here.
I tread on Cupid like an eclipse,
Caboose! Shoot the Mercury-flesh into our lips,
My aim is catatonia, why collect every penny
When we can brain the Collective thrift?
You impotent ghost, invisible kiss! Tracked adjacent-
Grim Reaper, scalp the rails for breathing skin tags to phrase it
So you know:
I’m not here.
Everyone else will know my fear!
(I’m not here).
The gun stashed Fritz up the eclipse,
A carry-on bag's Invictus blood blinks through its script.
Chains strain to a tightrope, spiral into damsel fits
Railing with death, the carpet red as the bearings I schlep-
(Won’t chase)
I feel the high!
(No chase)
You’ll feel my nine!
(No chase)
I feel alive!
(No chase!)
I peel the binds-
No face to see me cry, no shame to speak aside,
Just a crazy man sticking up a train and stealing blind…
Looking left
Looking right
Flames defect to
Demon smiles.
Who am I?
Who is Nick?
Who’s the victim-
As the future splits?
Take me down.
Feel my pain.
Make me cry.
Say my name.
Who’s insane?
Who’s to blame?
Open veins
Let it stain.
Two-steps.
Breathe deep.
One hand.
Shoot free.
You crack.
You bleed.
I am the life you needed!
I am the life you needed, baby.
I am the life you needed!
I am the life you needed baby…
Love high.
Love low.
Three steps.
Too slow.
One Hand
Two wrote:
I am the life you needed!
I am the life you needed, baby…
…Why even try?
Blood chained to dust.
Why make a fuss?
Just stay with us...
With us…
… Why be alive?
I’ll just stay inside
My own abode.
His dead hands gave away the fix
Nick Casper, the garish of men, sojourned the risk.
A puppeteer, his ghost the lucky one- the man of the hour witched the
Twiggy garb of fire till his skull met the squalor.
His body never coalesced while the man was inside,
The different people in his mind gripped by the wires in his mouth, snake the-
God out! Hollow restitutions hard to swallow now-
Messy as it seems, the features come together motion bound.
Locomotion’s kinda funny looking back- cuz in my
Mind the wheels could only turn where cultures could adapt-
Now it’s fun time, I’m in it. Done trying to fit in, I’m
Prefect to the scribe, let me rise to this occasion to say:
He’s not here.
He’ll never know the real me.
He’s not here.
He’ll never see me coming.
He’s not here.
He is the death you revere…
I’m not here.
© Nick Zazove (2024)