Unplugged – Rp Verlaine

He plays
as the sun limbo
dances through cheap waxy
hotel curtains. His litany of
blues riffs soaked in whiskey
corn mash leaks both poetry
and clarity from steel strings

unheard
without amplifiers
last night’s conquest sleeps
eighth one on this tour.
But one plane ticket
moves him forward and gone
from her when she wakes
with money to stumble
through the next few days.

Across town is his taxi
yet to move in his direction.
A coffee first
and last
the sun begins
to sweat those who can’t hide.
While the air conditioner sings
or does something like it.

About the contributor: Rp Verlaine lives and writes in New York City. He has an MFA in creative writing from City College and taught in New York Public schools for many years. No longer teaching, he continues to write and do photography in New York. He has released several collections of poetry, including Damaged by Dames & Drinking and Femme Fatales Movie Starlets & Rockers. His poetry has appeared in The Linnet’s Wings, Haikuniverse, Scryptic, Proletaria, Humankind Journal, Failed Haiku, Under The Basho, Plum Tree Tavern, Fresh Out Magazine, Blazevox, Pikers Press, and Bleached Butterfly