Day 25: Ian Khadan

For Day 25 of 30 Days of The 5-2, contributor Ian Khadan returns:

BRICK CITY

after Hal Sirowitz
a bop for Newark, NJ

In the year of bricks, these brick-
ward galaxy cowboys roll deep
through city trenches smooth as double—
dutch on asphalt. They metronome
the streets with Gatling ratchets; spokes
rattling clean the air of its body bag.

There'll be blood on every stoop
'til all firstborn sons get bodied.

In the city of bricks, the watchers
toke hammer and gunpowder; them
boys mark territory like Mason-Dixon:
poverty from prowess, commuters
from commoners gentrified like
slave barracks from plantation.
We all gotta’ eat, and ain't nothing
stopping these bullets but blues.

There'll be blood on your block
'til all them boys get bodied.

Them train movin' devils watch
us like we an aquarium and we
piranha for ‘em so they can hold
their jaws open long after the 'burbs
call them back to their beds:
belly-warmers souvenir’d in their eyes.

There will be blood on these streets
'til this whole city gets bodied.

IAN KHADAN is a curator of poetry events in New York City. He's author of the upcoming chapbook, The Kaieteur Fall. Find him on twitter @iankhadan and at www.iankhadan.com