Get Out! Poem by Windsor Guadalupe Jr

We were at some
Street and it was clogged
By stationary automobiles.
The people were cheering
In a mad cavalcade
As we swept the streets
With cigarette smoke.

We entered a tavern
That I frequent
And there were two
Women dancing -
Their souls were hanging
Out of their bodies.

There were men
Ogling at those women.
I can be pretty keen
And observant at times
And I saw the men
Whisper to each other
And taking intervals
In looking at these young ladies
Who could have acted
More refined and modest -
But never did.

I poured that silent drink
Upon the glass and I saw
Myself in one of the
Glasses: dying to get out.
The liquor poured resiliently
Out of the pitcher’s mouth
And I watched it in beauty:
A slow retreat.

It’s in these nights
That I helplessly vie
To get out:
Of this place
This body
This altitude
The expanse
A visceral longing.

But can’t.
So I’m pouring a drink
Until I get out of this perdition

And walk straight
To you,
Candles and all.